Deal ends protest at bookbinding firm

A four-week sit-in at a Wicklow bookbinding company has ended after the 14 workers accepted a settlement giving them an average…

A four-week sit-in at a Wicklow bookbinding company has ended after the 14 workers accepted a settlement giving them an average of about 10 weeks' pay.

Workers at Reilly Bookbinders had been fighting for their statutory entitlements after the company announced it was relocating to the Czech Republic.

The firm had said it would not provide paid notice or outstanding holiday pay to its former employees.

They will now be paid the money owed from a Government insolvency fund.

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The settlement terms were agreed in talks at the Labour Relations Commission yesterday.

The terms provide for the workers to receive between four and eight weeks' pay in lieu of notice from the employer, depending on their length of service, all holiday pay due to them and payment of wages for the past four weeks during which they have been occupying the plant.

The company has been in Co Wicklow for 30 years and was taken over by Dunne and Wilson (Ireland) in 2003.

The firm restores books for customers including the Department of the Taoiseach, the Courts Service, and the Labour Court.

As a result of the deal, workers ended their occupation of the company's plant at the Murrough industrial estate in Wicklow town yesterday afternoon.