DUNNES Stores was criticised at the Mandate conference by the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Pat Rabbitte, and the assistant general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Kevin Duffy.
Referring to the controversy over Easter Sunday trading, Mr Rabbitte said Dunnes Stores had accused him of trying to put it at a disadvantage with competitors such as Marks & Spencer, Brown Thomas and Debenhams.
"I repudiate any suggestion that there was invidious discrimination on my part against Dunnes Stores," he said, adding that he had reiterated his calls for these other stores not to open on Easter Sunday and Brown Thomas had complied.
He regretted that the other companies had chosen to open and he did not believe that competitive pressures should be used as an excuse to trade on Easter Sunday.
Mr Duffy congratulated Mandate on its continuing growth and success in processing social welfare claims for members involved in strikes at Dunnes Stores and the Early Learning Centre. "You succeeded because the employers had failed to use the normal dispute settling machinery of the State, the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court."
The cost of the social welfare payments to the State was around £2 million. "No sanction of any kind was attached to the employers involved. This is unfair to taxpayers. Employers who are clearly in breach of procedures should bear the cost of their actions and be obliged to compensate workers.