A former worker with Iceland who claims she was personally threatened with being sued by the owner of the supermarket’s stores in Ireland if she and other workers went on strike has been awarded €8,300 in compensation.
The Workplace Relations Commission ruled that retail assistant, Jeanette Joyce, was penalised by Iceland over her role as a trade union representative contrary to the Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Act 2006.
The WRC found that Ms Joyce had been pressured verbally by the chief executive of Metro Stores – the company, now in liquidation, which operated the franchise for Iceland stores in Ireland – as well as being named personally in a High Court summons seeking damages for taking strike action.
It ruled her pay was also withheld, and the company refused to engage with a grievance she had raised.
Ms Joyce, who worked as a retail assistant with Iceland since June 2016, became a shop steward for the Independent Workers’ Union at its Coolock branch in March 2023.
The WRC heard that Ms Joyce organised industrial action for Iceland staff “to regularise the wage situation” when employees were not paid their wages.
The company employed around 100 staff across its stores in the Republic at the time.
Ms Joyce claims she and other IWU representatives tried to meet Metron’s chief executive, Naeem Maniar, but they served mandatory strike notice when there was no progress on issues.
At a meeting with Mr Maniar on May 18th, 2023, Ms Joyce claimed the businessman told her he had put €1.5 million “from his own pocket” into the business.
She told the WRC that Mr Maniar asked her to call off the strike and complained that he was being slandered.
Ms Joyce claimed he threatened to sue the IWU and if the trade union did not pay, he would sue her and “come after [her] property” if she could not pay.
WhatsApp messages
The WRC heard that Mr Maniar sent her a number of WhatsApp messages later that evening and the following morning in which he claimed that the strike action was being used as a weapon to bully his children.
In another text, he stated: “The IWU have circulated attacks and false propaganda – with the sole aim of recruiting members – and collect money for their personal use. I am being used as a football to kick around for certain people in the IWU for their own personal agenda.”
Ms Joyce said she had informed Mr Maniar that she had been with her terminally ill father at the time and asked him to stop attacking her personally over the decision to strike.
The WRC heard that he replied that he was angry as the IWU was “playing dirty and deliberately seeking to attack [him] in a personal capacity.”
Ms Joyce claimed he told her in a text message that he never imagined she would be involved in social media bullying.
A week later, she said Mr Maniar phoned her and suggested she should take unpaid leave to look after her father and let the Government pay for her while she was off work – an offer she declined.
The WRC was informed that the strike action went ahead at the Coolock store on May 19th, 2023 and that Ms Joyce was served with a High Court summons four days later seeking aggravated and/or exemplary damages for unlawful strike action.
‘False narrative’
Ms Joyce claimed she ceased contact with the company after receiving an e-mail from a payroll representative which stated she had “continuously tried to manipulate the situation” and was seeking “to create a false narrative”.
She claimed the sender also suggested that she should go find another job if she was unhappy working with Iceland.
The WRC heard that she was paid outstanding wages worth around €246 several weeks after they were due.
Ms Joyce said she received no response to a grievance about being bullied and harassed that she had raised with both her store manager and an area manager.
She claimed the situation was “unbearable” after the strike as she felt “under the microscope” and “on edge” with employees being moved about.
She recalled how she felt panic in case she was sacked for no reason at a time when she had a mortgage and two young children.
Her employment ceased on June 20th, 2023 when she was told the store was being closed.
Iceland was not represented at the WRC hearing on the case which was held in June.
In her ruling, WRC adjudication officer, Elizabeth Spelman, said Ms Joyce was “credible” in her uncontested evidence and had provided a significant amount of corroborating documentation.
Ms Spelman said it was clear that Mr Maniar’s WhatsApp messages and the High Court summons were intended to pressurise the complainant and penalise her for her work as a shop steward at a time she was earning the minimum wage in a part-time role.
She observed that Ms Joyce’s responses were “composed and professional” and that she had continued to seek to engage with her employer.
Ms Spelman said the company had also given her the run around over unpaid wages in an attempt to pressurise her financially.
She awarded Ms Joyce €8,300 in compensation – the equivalent of six months’ pay which she claimed was “just and equitable”.