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Thomas Cook Grafton Street store occupied by the workers

  • 01-08-2009 1:52pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,283 ✭✭✭


    Very interesting one. Apparently they've recieved messages of support from the workers involved in the Vestas occupation in the UK, and from workers still fighting for their pensions from Visteon. The unions won't be too impressed me thinks.

    From my own point of view, full solidarity to them. My mother was by earlier on and said people are showing them fantastic support.If you're in town, swing by!






    short report from inside and the street outside thomas cooks yesterday when the staff ejected the managers!
    The Thomas Cook offices at grafton st dublin are now under worker's control. Workers occupoed the building after management , who had flown in specially from the UK, announced the closure of the shops on north earl street and grafton st Dublin. The staff at the north earl st shop were told to close the store for an hour and to accompany managers to the grafton st store, they went upstairs and started laying out chairs to line the workers up and dismiss them. One of the workers who sensed what was coming shouted 'Lock In!' and, like electricity, word shot up through the other floors of the building.
    The workers took the upper floors leaving management downstairs in the shop. Socialist Worker members arrived and, after speaking to a shop steward inside, we started distributing the worker's flyer about the dispute outside the shop to the public. We started chanting along with the workers who shouted along from the upper story windows 'I dont know what i been told..thomas cook aint got no soul!'. The response from the passers by was amazing, 'this is what this country needs',' they're right fair play to them'. Bin lorry drivers, Buses and Taxis continually beeped their horns and stopped to get more information.
    A press photographer arrived and the workers assembled in the shop with management beside them looking uneasy, one of the pregnant workers was having her photo taken when the press officer for thomas cook management tried to block the shot, one of the union members threw the press officer out of the shop, soon to be followed by the other managers, who left in tears. They had never had to deal with workers fighting back.They expected submission. The workers and supporters outside began shouting, 'the workers united will never be defeated!'.
    The very people who earlier that day had gathered the workers to dismiss them were left weeping into mobile phones and quietly asking could they have their bags back.

    Go down and cheer the workers on today!


«134567

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,962 ✭✭✭jumpguy


    "The staff at the north earl st shop were told to close the store for an hour and to accompany managers to the grafton st store, they went upstairs and started laying out chairs to line the workers up and dismiss them."

    Sounds like something in the wild west. Dismiss the workers...one-by-one...and do it slowly.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    So I can go get a free spray tan in Arnott's today so I can go and look my best when I gawk at the sit-in protest.

    A good day on Grafton Street alright.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,442 ✭✭✭Bandit12


    Get a job ya bum's


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,283 ✭✭✭PrivateEye


    So I can go get a free spray tan in Arnott's today so I can go and look my best when I gawk at the sit-in protest.

    You made a funnies.

    If you watch the video you'd see they actually appealed to other workers to go down and offer support, similar to what happened recently in Belfast at the Visteon plant. As a unionised worker, I've nothing but full support for somebody taking action like this at the minute and I'm sure people will be there for them if they carry this one out for a few days, as happened in Waterford.

    Workers issues are one of the only places I've any faith in the 'goodness' of the Irish people (Irish Ferries, GAMA, Waterford Crystal come to mind....)

    Alternatively, you could gawk in the windows :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,724 ✭✭✭Vanbis


    Staff at Direct-Holidays on Talbot Street where forced into the same situation this morning when secuirty came into the shop and asked staff members for the keys which they have refused to hand over and are now forced to make a stand.

    Thomas Cook and Direct-Holidays are the one company, Thomas cook bought out direct-holidays but they still trade under Direct. The staff at Direct have tried to get union Representation since they where informed of the reduncies but Thomas cook refuse to reconginse the union todate.

    Its a disgraful way to treat staff memebers who have worked hard to line the company with sales worth millions each year. Thomas Cook made a massive profit last year.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,190 ✭✭✭✭IvySlayer


    Thomas Cook workers were offered 5 weeks per year they worked there on top with a months bonus, fairly healthy redundancy package.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,808 ✭✭✭Ste.phen


    IvySlayer wrote: »
    Thomas Cook workers were offered 5 weeks per year they worked there on top with a months bonus, fairly healthy redundancy package.
    Which makes me wonder what they hope to achieve in having a sit in protest? It's hardly going to encourage management to give them MORE money, is it?


  • Registered Users Posts: 384 ✭✭hatetherain!


    I heard on the news there were originally offered 8 weeks redundancy and were "sitting in" for more......no chance I'd say of an increase on 8


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 45,433 ✭✭✭✭thomond2006


    The cheek of 'em! :D:D:D:D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 111 ✭✭ronrar




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭DonJose


    Very insensitive on the managers part. If I were the manager I would have offered all the staff a free holiday, then locked up the office while they were on holiday :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,977 ✭✭✭mp3guy


    Ah, playing the old "If I sit here long enough money will come out of nowhere" card.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    mp3guy wrote: »
    Ah, playing the old "If I sit here long enough money will come out of nowhere" card.

    The top dog in Thomas Cook/Thomson was paid a 5 Million Sterling bonus in January. That would suggest that there is indeed money about, wouldn't it?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,986 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    Socialist Worker members arrived and, after speaking to a shop steward inside, we started distributing the worker's flyer about the dispute outside the shop to the public. We started chanting along with the workers

    What exactly do the Socialist Workers Party have to do with this? :confused:
    Are the staff all members? I doubt it

    Would this be a party just jumping on an incident for some publicity?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,977 ✭✭✭mp3guy


    Nodin wrote: »
    The top dog in Thomas Cook/Thomson was paid a 5 Million Sterling bonus in January. That would suggest that there is indeed money about, wouldn't it?

    Yeah, and communism isn't.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 908 ✭✭✭Whiskey Devil


    Easy to jeer when you are not the one in that situation. Fair play to them.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 96 ✭✭Board Senseless


    Easy to say fair play when you are not the one in that situation.

    ::jeers::


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    mp3guy wrote: »
    Yeah, and communism isn't.

    And that remark has got what to do with this situation....?


  • Registered Users Posts: 736 ✭✭✭Tom10


    mikemac wrote: »
    What exactly do the Socialist Workers Party have to do with this? :confused:
    Are the staff all members? I doubt it

    Would this be a party just jumping on an incident for some publicity?

    Well they would be supporting workers rights - kinda like what they do. :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,529 ✭✭✭donkey balls


    a sit in thats nothing compared to the french strikers holding managers hostage and threatening to blow up there factory.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,756 ✭✭✭InkSlinger67


    I passed these guys earlier today, they're making quite a mess down there. Litter fines for all involved to add to their woes I say!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27,252 ✭✭✭✭stovelid


    Tragically, I predict strife by Monday.

    A reformist tendency will spring up in the Foreign Exchange section and will be brutally repressed, Kronstadt-style, by the vanguardists in the Central Reservations area


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,346 ✭✭✭✭homerjay2005


    their redundancy package is very very good.their company is leaving, they are loosing their jobs, so are 1000's of others each month. they are trying IMO, to force bad publicity on the company. very bad behaviour i think, but im sure others willl have their opinion.


    the quote -"ireland needs more of this" is very disturbing.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,977 ✭✭✭mp3guy


    Seems very childish. Thousands of other laid off workers understand the economy and took their leave with dignity, this is actually just embarrassing.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    mp3guy wrote: »
    Seems very childish. Thousands of other laid off workers understand the economy .

    Did their bosses get a 5 Million STG bonus in Jan?


  • Registered Users Posts: 230 ✭✭BarryM3


    Nodin wrote: »
    Did their bosses get a 5 Million STG bonus in Jan?

    What has that got to do with anything?

    They had a job, they got paid for doing it.

    It obviously doesn't make financial sense for them to continue trading so they were made redundant, they were offered above and beyond what they are entitled to. Still not happy!!

    Idiots....


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,239 ✭✭✭✭WindSock


    Takin a butchers hook at the drama at Thomas Cook.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 431 ✭✭dny123456


    5 weeks redundancy is pretty good to be honest... they should just take it. Statutory, is 2 weeks, with a cap of 600 a week.

    From
    http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment/unemployment-and-redundancy/redundancy/redundancy-payments


    I got four weeks last time i was made redundant and was pretty happy with it. Unrealistic greedy workers are going to end up with a lot less. Silly girls.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 562 ✭✭✭utick


    i think thomas cook should keep to the offer of 5 weeks for workers who leave the building by monday morning and anyone who continues to stay just gets the basic legal 2 weeks. seriously i wonder how many of those complaining about 5 weeks redundancy have any idea how damaging that is to irelands reputation for future foreign companys looking to come here, and i bet a lot of these people want to blame everything on the government rather than looking at the harm they are causing themselves


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  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 3,372 Mod ✭✭✭✭andrew


    I dispise people who pull of this sort of crap.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,753 ✭✭✭fitz0


    I say starve them out! Sure theres only a few packs of biscuits and some tea in there anyway. And then give them fuck all for being so awkward.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,808 ✭✭✭Ste.phen


    fitz0 wrote: »
    I say starve them out! Sure theres only a few packs of biscuits and some tea in there anyway. And then give them fuck all for being so awkward.
    Most of them are probably entitled to 2 weeks, as per the law.
    Then again, those that were criminally trespassing could probably be fired for serious misconduct


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,283 ✭✭✭PrivateEye


    fitz0 wrote: »
    I say starve them out! Sure theres only a few packs of biscuits and some tea in there anyway. And then give them fuck all for being so awkward.

    Spot on old chap!


  • Business & Finance Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 32,387 Mod ✭✭✭✭DeVore


    I've watched and read all of this and subsequent links and I'm still confused what exactly they are protesting about.... being let go?? Is that it?

    What do they want to see happen... Thomas Cook being forced to employ them forever or do they have a suggestion?

    DeV.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 431 ✭✭dny123456


    DeVore wrote: »
    I've watched and read all of this and subsequent links and I'm still confused what exactly they are protesting about.... being let go?? Is that it?
    DeV.

    They just want more money... they think they are 'entitled'... because the company is making money still. Truth is, they are 'entitled' to 2 weeks per year, with a cap of 600. 1200 for for every year. Reminds me of that muppet from Fas with his 'entitled' to first class tickets!. This country needs to wake up.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 45,433 ✭✭✭✭thomond2006


    Just imagine if this happened in Iraq, lol!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,898 ✭✭✭Trampas


    Part that annoyed me was the press highlighted that there are 2 pregnant women in the building.

    What does it matter if there is 2 or 22 pregnant women in the building. Not as if they are been held against their wishes.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,190 ✭✭✭✭IvySlayer


    They should leave. They lost their jobs, like so many people, they are nothing special in todays climate. As I stated, their packgae is healthy and they are just taking the piss at this stage.

    They are living in fantasy land, the owners of Thomas Cook, who employed them, are closing down. There is nothing they can do. They can't force them to stay. Whatever happend to being the boss of a company? Nowadays you can't make a decisions about anything without the unions sticking their noses in.

    If a supervisor wishes to change schedule, oh no, the union is not having it! You're fired? Oh noooo, can't have that! You only refused to do your job! (I refer to Dublin Bus)

    I hope they lose. Badly.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,919 ✭✭✭✭Gummy Panda


    I'm confused about the protest. Is it about how they were dismissed or the amount they're receiving?

    If a company doesn't want to operate here anymore, there is nothing they can do.


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 27,675 Mod ✭✭✭✭Posy


    Five weeks redundancy is fair enough, a lot of companies go bust and the staff are left waiting months for their statutory redundancy. They should be glad for what they're getting. It's not an ideal situation to find yourself in but it's happening to a lot of people at the moment and I don't know why they think they're so special.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 713 ✭✭✭Crackity Jones


    Saw them on the news earlier all Freshly made up and looking rather relaxed...and how did the tv cameras get in there?? What kind of a lock in is that??


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,456 ✭✭✭✭Mr Benevolent


    5 weeks pay per year is 250% more than statute redundancy. They have nothing, not one thing, to complain about. Unions won't help. Protesting won't help, as they've gotten a far better deal than thousands of other redundant workers.

    On a related topic, I'm writing a book about common sense. If this protest goes on long enough I'll give each of those idiots a copy. In fact, I'll give every AH frequenter a copy.


  • Registered Users Posts: 384 ✭✭hatetherain!


    They have now been served with a high court order ordering them to leave the building!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,082 ✭✭✭Pygmalion


    Confab wrote: »
    On a related topic, I'm writing a book about common sense. If this protest goes on long enough I'll give each of those idiots a copy. In fact, I'll give every AH frequenter a copy.
    ETA of it's release? Want to know when I can start pestering you for it.

    (Holy ****, did I just use the word "pestering"?)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,096 ✭✭✭✭the groutch


    the sit-in was totally pointless, they were offered an incredibly generous redundancy package, and nothing they will do will get them a penny more, imo they should be only given statutory now after this attempted defamation


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,510 ✭✭✭population


    I was asked to sign a petition there yesterday supporting them. When I said no, I was practically hopped on by one of the lads protesting, shouting at me about how their top man got 4 million of a bonus.

    I probably should have just walked away but I was pissed off and decided to have it out with him. The one thing that jumped out at me was how little this guy even knew about the issue. Whenever I made a point or asked him a significant qs he sort of panicked and said I should talk to the staff because, and I QUOTE "they'd know more about it".

    Now if I was to affiliate myself to a cause I would make bloody sure I knew all the ins and outs before I spat vitriol all over someone for not signing a petition.

    For the record I felt the staff were entitled to 6 weeks. Two weeks statuatory and 4 weeks for the stunt the company tried to pull by just shutting down without notice. They were owed a month in my eyes. 8 weeks however is taking the mickey


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 510 ✭✭✭steo87


    Sitting in a building for days?

    Don't these people have jobs to go to?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 28,128 ✭✭✭✭Mossy Monk


    Why don't the Gardaí enter and arrest them for trespassing?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,283 ✭✭✭PrivateEye


    Video of todays solidarity picket.





    Interesting to see the list of local businesses who have donated food and supplies to the workers, ranging from Dunnes Stores (Cause we all know they love a good strike :rolleyes:) to Burdocks Chipper, Superquinn to Vodafone. Fantastic to see.

    A lot of people stuck around expecting the eviction of the workers, but truthfully I dont think it will even happen in daylight when they do it. The Thomas Cook workers are in great spirits and have the willpower to keep going.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,243 ✭✭✭✭Jesus Wept


    I'm surprised that Thomas Cook was there as long as it was, there was rarely anyone in it.
    PrivateEye wrote: »
    Very interesting one.

    It's really not.
    It's just cringeworthy.
    PrivateEye wrote: »
    Interesting to see the list of local businesses who have donated food and supplies to the workers, ranging from Dunnes Stores (Cause we all know they love a good strike :rolleyes:) to Burdocks Chipper, Superquinn to Vodafone. Fantastic to see.

    Why?
    PrivateEye wrote: »
    A lot of people stuck around expecting the eviction of the workers, but truthfully I dont think it will even happen in daylight when they do it. The Thomas Cook workers are in great spirits and have the willpower to keep going.

    Leave them in there, they'll get bored eventually imo. That or forcefully evict them, gobshites.

    Bin lorry drivers, Buses and Taxis continually beeped their horns and stopped to get more information.

    So they have the support of the usual crowd that bring the city to a standstill, I'm convinced.


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