TRADE UNION, Unite, plans to investigate whether or not former Waterford Crystal workers should benefit from the controversial €22 million sale of the Wedgwood Museum collection.
A British court recently ruled that the £18 million sterling (€22 million) collection in the Wedgwood Museum in Stoke-on-Trent in England, should be sold and the proceeds used to help cover Waterford Wedgwood’s €160 million pension deficit.
While the ruling was made under British law, trade union, Unite, intends to establish whether or not 1,800 former Waterford Crystal staff, who were left with no pension when the group failed have any call over the proceeds. A spokesman said that the union did not know at this stage if the Irish workers’ pension fund should benefit, but added that Unite intends investigating this possibility.
Most of Waterford Wedgwood’s assets were sold out of receivership to US investor, KPS Capital, in 2009.
The deal resulted in the closure of the group’s crystal plant in Kilbarry, Waterford with the loss of 700 jobs.
The company’s insolvency left 1,800 former Waterford workers with no pension, despite the fact that they had been contributing to a retirement fund operated by their employer.
In December the British high court found that the contents of the Wedgwood Museum, owned by a trust operated by the group, were in fact an asset of the business and should be sold for the benefit of the workers’ pension fund.
The ruling was based on a British law that requires the state to establish a pension protection fund which pays workers’ retirement benefits where privately-funded schemes fail. The legislation gives the pension fund trustees the right to call on any remaining Waterford Wedgwood assets.
There is no equivalent provisions in Irish law.
Such safeguards are part of EU pension law. Unite is bringing the State to the European Court of Justice for its failure to establish a pension protection system and is seeking compensation for the workers who lost their retirement and pension benefits.
The Wedgwood ruling is hugely controversial in Britain.
The museum’s contents were donated by the descendants of Josiah Wedgwood, who founded the famous china manufacturer in the 18th century.
They include Josiah Wedgwood’s own archive and personal papers, a large collection of china, paintings by 18th century English artists and individual vases valued at around €1.2 million. The remaining members of the Wedgwood family have condemned the ruling.
Carphone Warehouse founder, billionaire, John Caudwell, has offered to buy the collection and keep it open to the public, but has stressed that the offer is not unconditional.
