Former Clerys workers come face to face with Deirdre Foley

Almost two years after they were laid off, a small group of former Clerys staff, most of whom had worked there for decades, came face to face for the first time with Deirdre Foley, the woman whose company shut the department store in June 2015.

Bound by the confidentiality of a deal brokered between Ms Foley and the union Siptu, the workers were careful with their words, but were clear in their feelings about how they had been treated by Ms Foley's company Natrium.

“On Friday, June 12th, at 1.30pm, we found out Clerys had been sold to Natrium. At 5.30pm we were told it was closing down at 6pm,” said Maureen Deans, who worked for Clerys for 15 years.

She said the lack of notice of the closure was stunning. “I’ve been working all my life. To suddenly go to not working was such a shock. It took me a year to come to terms with it. I’ve been 37 years working, it’s been very hard to deal with that.”

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Gerry Markey had worked in bed sales for 35 years. As a union shop steward he had been in weekly contact with management. “There had been rumours and media speculation since about the January before, but every time we asked we were told everything’s fine.”

When staff were called in on the Sunday before the closure for an unscheduled stock-take “we kinda smelled a rat”, Mr Markey said. “It was like they asked you to dig your own grave so they could shoot you into it.”

Financial settlement

He said while a financial settlement has been made to the former workers, their campaign was about justice, not money. “We weren’t looking for money. Firstly, we just wanted to meet these people. That happened for the first time today.

“Then we wanted that people who work in the Clerys building in the future will have good, sustainable jobs, and that, we were told today, will happen.”

Declan Somers worked for Clerys for 40 years, having joined straight from school on an apprenticeship.

He said when the shop closed in July 2013 following a flash flood there were concerns among staff that it would not reopen, “but we were given the hard hats and the boots, and told to move all the flood damaged stock and that it would be open again by Christmas. And it was.”

The day of the closure was very different, he recalled.“We were told to give up our lanyards and our key fobs. We weren’t allowed to clear our lockers, and we were just landed out on the street.

“The way we were treated takes the soul out of you. It’s hard to pick yourself up, but we were always dignified.”