Shop stewards for former Debenhams stores say they'll be recommending colleagues reject a new proposal aimed at ending their long-running dispute over redundancy payments.
It would see government set up a 3 million euro fund for the training and upskilling of more than 1,000 former employees who were let go in April after its Irish operations collapsed.
The deal was formulated following extensive engagement between mediator Kevin Foley, government and the liquidator KPMG.
However in a statement, shop stewards have described it as impractical and raised the prospect of a return to the picket line in the new year.
"We will be asked essentially to vote for a poorly defined training and education fund. Poorly defined mainly in the sense that we are not being told what it provides that those of us who wish in the next year or two to retrain would not already be entitled to. It is also not a practical offer when a sizeable proportion of us have either begun alternative employment or commenced courses already or are at a stage of our lives close to retirement that there is no gain to be made from re-training.
"While it would still be far below what we set out for we have yet to hear a satisfactory explanation as to why the €3 million fund for education and training could not simply be utilised to enhance our statutory minimum redundancy.
"Therefore the government should legislate in the new year post haste but advance to us and other workers like Arcadia decent settlements in line with what our former employers agreed with our union."
