Around 14 employees of Nicholson & Bass and sister firm Quinns Belfast (2009) lost their jobs in the restructuring, which also involved changes to the terms and conditions of workers who reapplied for ‘new’ positions at the Bradley group, which has retained the Nicholson Bass and Quinnstheprinters.com trading names.
Unite regional officer Brian Hewitt said the union had been “highly concerned” about the business since it was acquired by the Bradley Group in 2017.
“At the time of the transfer it was only the threat of strike action that forced the owners to respect the workforce’s rights under TUPE legislation,” he said.
“Unfortunately management in the company have resorted to their previous agenda. In recent weeks fourteen staff were made redundant with no notice and eight were subsequently forced into re-employment on much reduced terms and conditions and pensions. This is a clear denial of their employment rights and Unite will be pursuing this through the courts.”
The employees who lost their jobs were laid off without any notice or redundancy pay, and are now attempting to claim their redundancy from the state. At the time, Bradley Group managing director Peter Bradley said “Quinns will absolutely be fulfilling all their obligations”.
Belfast-based JBK Accountants is now helping former employees with their claims while it decides whether or not to take on the insolvency case.
The situation is complicated by the fact that a change of ownership at the two limited companies apparently took place two days before the lay-offs on 16 August.
Documents confirming the change of share ownership of Nicholson & Bass and Quinns Belfast (2009) have now been filed at Companies House.
The confirmation statements, filed on 19 September, state that the shares in both companies that were held by Bradley Group (UK) were transferred to John McGrath on 14 August, leaving McGrath as the sole shareholder in the two businesses.
Bradley Group had not commented at the time of writing. PrintWeek has been unable to reach John McGrath.
This story has been closed to comments due to the previously-mentioned police investigation.
