Staff of shut nightclub in campaign to fight for wages owed
Former staff members at a city centre nightclub have mounted a social media campaign to secure back-pay owed after being informed via social media last week that the club has closed down.
The closure of the Bentley, Eyre Square, has resulted in the loss of 30 jobs and created ill-feeling among the workers over the way they were informed.
Some workers found out through the club’s Facebook page that The Bentley was not going to re-open, weeks after it closed “temporarily”, while others only discovered their fate after an auctioneer put up a sign outside the premises last Thursday.
Staff members claim they were owed two weeks’ wages, plus holiday pay, before the club shut down on January 13. It was due to reopen a week later, but never did.
The Sentinel understand that the owners, O Bruadair Investment Limited, also owe in the region of €200,000 in rent to the club landlord; €100,000 in rates to Galway City Council; and significant sums to a number of suppliers, including a security firm.
The company was set up by brothers Shane and James Broderick, from Knock in Mayo, in July 2012 and the club had been running for less than two years.
In a brief statement issued to the Sentinel late last week, the club’s management issued an assurance that they would sort out the pay owed to the 30 staff members.
However, the former employees cancelled a meeting with management yesterday, after being told that it could take weeks or even months before they get paid.
Their campaign has been taken on board by the new Galway branch of ‘We’re Not Leaving’, a campaign group which is fighting for the rights of young people who do not want to be forced to emigrate.
Former workers have also taken over The Bentley’s Facebook page, to highlight their concerns.
Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel