Talks on bookbinding firm crisis
A report on the future of a bookbinding firm whose staff have staged a three-week sit-in will be discussed today by union chiefs and company management.
Fourteen employees have been occupying Reilly Bookbinders in Wicklow town since July 18, after learning the company was insolvent and could not pay them statutory redundancy.
Independent financial assessor Brain Alyward was appointed by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) last week to help resolve the dispute.
His report outlined four options to end the stand-off – an injection of capital from the company, a buyout by the employees, a buy-in by external parties or liquidation or receivership.
The meeting will take place at the LRC.
Reilly Bookbinders has been in Co Wicklow for 30 years but was taken over by Dunne and Wilson (Ireland) Ltd in 2003.
The firm restores books for customers like the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Agriculture, the Courts Service, universities, local authorities and the Labour Court.
Some of the workers have up to 28 years of service but most have been with the company for between 15 and 20 years.
