A JUDGE last night ordered that staff holding a sit-in at Thomas Cook be brought before the High Court today as a result of their refusal to comply with an order requiring them to leave the travel company’s Grafton Street premises.
Mr Justice Michael Peart heard that staff, who are in dispute with the company over a redundancy package, had ignored advice from lawyers and their union to comply with the terms of a court order requiring them to vacate the premises. The 40 staff have been holding a sit-in since Friday.
Thomas Cook said it is prepared to talk to the workers if they vacate the premises.
As a result of the staff being in contempt of the order, the judge said he was making an order to have those found on the premises brought before the court.
The court said that the superintendent at Pearse Street Garda station is to be informed of the order to have staff brought before the High Court this afternoon.
Last Saturday Thomas Cook secured an interim injunction against the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), its general secretary Gerry Doherty and more than 40 named individuals, ordering them to leave.
Mr Justice Peart made that interim order an interlocutory injunction, pending the outcome of the full hearing of the action.
The judge said that there was “no question” that the actions of the defendants were unlawful. He had set a deadline of 7pm last night for those in breach of the order to leave the office.
He was satisfied that the individuals were aware of the terms of the order and the consequences of being in breach of it.
Seeking the injunction, Mark Connaughton, for Thomas Cook, said that the defendants had no right to be on the property, were trespassing, and were blatantly in breach of a court order.
He said that the company was prepared to enter into negotiations with the staff over the redundancy package once the occupation of the premises was ended.
The company claims that no notice of industrial action was served on it, and the protest could not be classified as peaceful picketing.
The judge had given the TSSA and its legal representatives until 6.30pm to advise and inform the workers of the implications of the court’s order. Shortly after 7.15pm the court was informed by John Nolan, for TSSA and its members, that the staff had decided to ignore legal advice and instructions they had received to leave the premises.
Earlier the court received undertakings from Gerry Doherty of the TSSA that he would comply with the orders of the court to vacate the premises.
Mr Nolan said that Mr Doherty of the TSSA had gone above and beyond what the court had ordered, but it had been difficult to communicate with the individuals at the store.
Counsel said he received subsequent information that the workers had decided to ignore his legal advice and that of Kent Carty Solicitors.
Mr Nolan said that in light of that refusal he and Mr Carty no longer wished to represent the workers and applied to come off record.
Mr Doherty, the court heard, conveyed the legal advice he received, but added that he could not give an undertaking as to what the staff at the Grafton Street offices would do.
Mr Doherty said that there was a lot of anger among the workers holding the sit-in. He said they felt that they had been badly treated in their negotiations with the company.
The outlet on Grafton Street had been due to close at the end of this month but management decided on Friday to close it with immediate effect, which led the workers to stage a sit-in.
The judge earlier refused to grant Mr Nolan an adjournment to allow the defendants prepare a replying affidavit, and said he was prepared to take oral evidence in reply to the company’s claims.
The workers are seeking an improved package following the company’s decision to close the stores. The company offered five weeks’ pay for each year of service. The workers were seeking eight.