Clerys workers secure settlement
The offer came from investment engine Natrium as it seeks to push ahead with a €150m redevelopment and reopen the landmark building on Dublin’s O’Connell St in three years.
The detail of the deal, brokered with the Justice for the Clerys Workers group, is confidential but it is understood sums of money will be paid in the next eight weeks.
Natrium, the investment engine formed by Deirdre Foley’s D2 Private and London-based fund manager Cheyne Capital, struck a deal with the former workers after a planning hearing opened into the redevelopment on Monday. Natrium will redevelop Clerys and adjacent properties as a hotel, offices, shops and restaurants. It previously said it will be “an important catalyst” in the revival of O’Connell St as one of Europe’s great thoroughfares.
Some 21 months ago, Clerys was shut down overnight with the loss of more than 460 jobs. Natrium had bought the building, which traded as a department store for more than 160 years, from Boston-based investment firm Gordon Brothers.
The new deal with the Justice for the Clerys Workers includes cash payments and a commitment to fair working conditions for those employed on the redevelopment and those who are hired when it reopens. A liaison and employment officer will be taken on for former Clerys workers to contact about possible jobs. There will also be potential trainee roles for people living in the north-east inner city.
