Joy, relief and sadness greet Waterford Crystal pension vote

CONOR KANE

Joy mixed with relief and some sadness were the overwhelming emotions of former Waterford Crystal workers and their families following Saturday's unanimous vote in favour of the deal which will finally see them receive up to 82 per cent of their pension entitlements.

Joy that they’ll be getting lump sum payments as well as differing levels of pension payments depending on years of service and built-up contributions.

There was relief that the battle which effectively began when the company went into receivership almost six years ago is now over.

But there was sadness that 34 colleagues have passed away in the meantime, without ever seeing justice come to pass.

Just over a week ago, the 34th of those, Eddie Doyle, was buried after dying prematurely of cancer. However, the consolation is that the spouses and families of the deceased ex-employees will instead receive the pension entitlements.

“The most common thing that people were saying [on Saturday] was that it’s a pity it took so long,” Joe Kelly, union official, master glass-cutter and 36-year veteran of Waterford Crystal said.

“Look at the 34 people who are dead, 34 of our colleagues. It was an awful lot of work with the Government to get the spouses included.”

The near-six year process to resurrect the 1,700 workers' pension money from the ashes of the old Waterford Crystal business on Waterford's Cork Road took them to domestic courts, the Commercial Court, the European Court of Justice, the negotiating table and almost back to the High Court before a deal was finalised under the stewardship of Kieran Mulvey of the Labour Relations Commission.

Now that the Government has approved the package t and the unions have accepted it, Mr Mulvey will reconvene all parties in January to begin implementing the terms and it’s expected that everything will be in train by late March.

All pensioners will receive tax-free lump sums of €1,200 per year of service, up to a maximum of 40 years.

Workers with pensions under €12,000 will get 90 per cent of their pension entitlement; amounts between €12,000 and €24,000 will be paid at a level of 67 per cent while anything above €24,000 will be paid at 50 per cent.

Mr Kelly, who is now an independent member of Waterford City and County Council, but was chairman of the staff and management branch of Unite at the company when it closed its doors in 2009, said without the €1 million put up by Unite and the €200,000 from Siptu as a legal fighting fund, the victory couldn’t have happened.

“It’s a big message to anyone who wonders what the point of being in a union is,” he said, paying tribute to all who worked at the fcrystal plant. “It’s a brilliant community, it was some place to work. Everybody stuck together on this, even to the death of our colleagues.”

The verdict at the European Court of Justice and result of the subsequent negotiation process was a tribute to the workers’ and unions’ stance, Mr Kelly said. “The main thing is that it’s a good day. We feel vindicated, we won in the courts and in the talks but it’s a pity it took this long for our 36 colleagues who died.”