It’s come to light this evening that former Wrighbus employees plan to protest outside the Ballymena church Green Pastures.
The church has links to the Wrighbus company through Jeff Wright who founded the church and also is a majority shareholder in the company Cornerstone Group, who run Wrightbus.
Recent accounts show that over a six year period, £15m had been donated to charity, which included Green Pastures, led by Wrightbus majority shareholder Jeff Wright.
One former worker wrote on social media;
“The protest being held at green pastures on Sunday is totally peaceful, our frustration is not aimed at the members of the church but at the head of it.
“Our intentions are NOT to make any of the members of the church feel uneasy but to show the world how many families that Jeff has ripped apart.”
It’s has also been rumoured that the reason why a recent investor pulled out was due to the Wrightbus buildings being separate from the manufacturing arm of the business, and that the owner, Whirlwind Property Two, refused to sell these as part of the deal.
Whirlwind Property Two, also controlled by Jeff Wright, and Wrightbus deny blocking any deal due to this reason, saying;
“Last week there were two final bidders in discussions regarding acquisition of Wright Group.
“A rental agreement for the sites was reached with one bidder, who then pulled out of the deal on Friday 20.
“A second bidder discussed purchasing the sites, but no formal letter of offer was made from that bidder.
“Any reports to the contrary are completely inaccurate.”
