Hotel workers reject reopening plan

STAFF AT the Montrose hotel in Dublin, which has been closed since January, have rejected a proposal by its owners to reopen as a budget hotel while paying the statutory minimum of two weeks redundancy to workers who are not re-employed.

The workers, who are seeking a redundancy payment of 3.5 weeks of salary for each year of service, voted overwhelmingly at a meeting last week to reject the proposal from the hotel’s owners, who include a number of highly indebted developers.

The dispute is likely to go to the Labour Court for a decision, but the owners have indicated they want the matter resolved quickly, before ownership of the hotel is moved to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

Under the management plan, most of the 100 staff would lose their jobs and be paid the statutory minimum redundancy of two weeks for each year of service. The owners plan to renovate the premises and reopen it as a budget hotel employing 30 staff on more flexible contracts and lower wages.

The owners of the Montrose include high-profile developers Bernard McNamara, David Courtney, Jerry O’Reilly and Terry Sweeney, according to documents lodged with the Companies Registration Office.

Consultant Niall Saul, who has represented the owners in negotiations, told staff last month there was no money left in the company to fund redundancies and a renovation of the hotel, and this money would have to be borrowed.

Mr Saul said the owners were carrying a large debt on the property, which was bought for €40 million in 2007 with a loan from Anglo Irish Bank.

He said it was clear the bank would not fund additional redundancy payments over the statutory minimum and, as a result, the owners could not provide any enhancement.