Jeanette Joyce, a former shop steward at an Iceland store, was granted €8,300 by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). The grant was a response to a complaint she lodged under the Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Act 2006 against Metron Stores Ltd, which traded as Iceland and is currently in liquidation. Joyce was reportedly threatened with a lawsuit on the eve of a labour strike by the entity’s then-owner, Naeem Maniar. The WRC recognised that Ms Joyce was unfairly treated due to her involvement in trade union activities.
Joyce, who served as a part-time worker at the minimum wage level and a mother of two, had led the strike in May of 2023 at a Dublin 17, Coolock-based Iceland supermarket. She held an elected position as the shop steward for the Independent Workers’ Union (IWU).
The WRC examination inferred that there were attempts to intimidate Ms Joyce, including late-night texts the night prior to the labour striket by Mr. Maniar, a High Court summons served to her and later attempts to withhold her pay. These were seen as actions aimed at discouraging her from her trade union activities.
The day before the planned string of labour strikes at the Coolock store, Mr Maniar made an appearance to speak to the shop stewards in an attempt to persuade them against the strike. As per Joyce’s evidence presented to the WRC, she was particularly targeted by Maniar, perhaps due to her outspokenness. She also mentioned that Maniar had threatened to sue the IWU and go after her if the union failed to pay. He even warned her of seizing her property.
From 6.17pm to midnight, Mr Maniar repeatedly reached out to Ms Joyce via WhatsApp to persuade her to cancel a strike. He went on to criticise a social media post by the IWU concerning the dispute, voicing his frustration over their perceived personal attack against him in subsequent messages. The tribunal was told he later expressed remorse for his outburst.
Ms Joyce advised him to address directly any qualms he had conflicting with the social media conduct of IWU with the trade union itself. Despite their exchange, the Coolock store proceeded with its strike on Friday, May 19th, 2023, as heard by the WRC.
On the next Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023, Ms Joyce reported of being handed an envelope at work which contained what she identified to be a High Court plenary summons issued to her, the IWU and two other union representatives. The summons indicated recovery of “aggravated or exemplary damages for unlawful industrial action”.
Pay day, which followed on the subsequent Friday, led to further complications. Ms Joyce claimed that while some employees received their wages- albeit late due to a “technical issue”, she and another shop steward in Coolock did not. The pay made its way into her bank account two to three weeks later, according to Ms Joyce.
Elizabeth Spelman, the WRC adjudicator, declared in her ruling that the summons handed to Ms Joyce after the strike was a pressure tactic through legal means and intended to punish her for her duty as a shop steward. Further, Ms Spelman stated that Ms Joyce’s former employer had deliberately misled her and withheld her pay when she questioned about her unpaid earnings. The sequence of emails she was sent was another penalising move meant to financially stress her for her shop steward role, it was concluded by the adjudicator.
Ms Spelman ruled in favour of the complaint and ordered the accused party to pay “just and equitable” compensation of €8,300 to Ms Joyce.
Approximately 35 former Iceland staff members, along with Ms Joyce, had their employment rights complaints escalated to the WRC by the IWU after the company ceased its operations here the previous autumn.
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