Officials of the Mandate trade union have met administrators of lingerie chain La Senza, which made its 93 Irish employees redundant yesterday.
This morning's meeting with KPMG in the Clarion Hotel came as former employees continued a sit-in at one of the multinational’s Dublin branches, seeking assurances they will be paid wages and overtime owed to them. They say they will not leave the shop until all former employees are paid the money owed to them.
Three former employees attended today’s meeting.
Michael Meegan of Mandate said the two sides met for an hour. Staff concerns in relation to pay, overtime and holidays, as well as redundancy were outlined.
“KPMG listened to what we had to say and have agreed to take the workers’ concerns to KPMG in the UK and have said they will revert to us later today with a response,” Mr Meegan said.
“In the meantime the sit-in at Liffey Valley continues with the full support of the Mandate trade union as well as the wider public and political leaders across the political spectrum,” he added.
The chain went into administration on Monday, threatening 1,300 redundancies across more than 100 outlets in Britain and Ireland. It operated eight shops in the State, including concessions in Debenhams department stores.
Some of its employees were told they were being made redundant on Monday night, while others were told as they turned up for work yesterday morning.
The sit-in at the Liffey Valley branch began on Monday night and yesterday colleagues from the Grafton Street, Henry Street, Dundrum and Cork branches joined.
Mr Meegan described the company’s treatment of Irish staff as “deplorable”.
“They have been loyal and hard-working and there has been no communication from the company. The women are very frustrated, panicking. Some are lone mothers, some the only earners in the family, some are students.”
While employees were guaranteed statutory redundancy, “they could be waiting for a year for that”, he said. “The point is the company is throwing the burden back on the taxpayers. They made big money here and must pay these, mainly low-paid workers what they are owed.”