Dunnes Stores under mounting pressure to resolve dispute

Dunnes Stores is coming under pressure from across the political spectrum to make moves to resolve what trade unions have described as the biggest private sector industrial dispute in two decades.

As more than 5,000 Dunnes staff who belong to the Mandate union staged a one-day strike and picketed 109 stores in the Republic, Tánaiste Joan Burton called on the company to engage with the State's industrial relations machinery.

The strikers, who account for more than half the company's staff, also received support from Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and left-wing parties. The stores remained open but anecdotally there were reports of many of them being noticeably less busy than usual.

However, the impact of the strike was not readily quantifiable. Industry sources estimate Dunnes has average daily sales of about €9 million, so every 10 per cent reduction in trade would represent lost sales of close on €1 million.

The company offered 20 per cent off online sales during the day.

In the flagship Cornelscourt branch in south Dublin, 14 out of 19 tills were not in use at one stage during the morning, and there were just four customers at the other tills. The restaurant in the complex was almost empty and there were no customers in the off-licence.

The Dublin city centre stores in St Stephen’s Green, South Great George’s Street and Henry Street, which are normally busy at lunchtime, only had a small number of customers.

Apartheid

In Henry Street picketers were joined by former Dunnes strikers

Mary Manning

,

Liz Deasy

and Sandra Griffin, who in 1984 refused to handle South African fruit in protest at the apartheid regime.

Their protest sparked a strike at Dunnes Stores that lasted almost three years.

Picketers received loud support from passing motorists in Cornelscourt, while residents in nearby houses opened their homes to picketers needing to use facilities. In Newbridge, Co Kildare, staff from a Tesco supermarket brought pizzas to the picketing Dunnes workers.

The strike by members of Mandate, which centres on demands for secure hours and earnings, job security, pay and the right to trade union representation has been widely backed by other trade unions across the country.

The Government, meanwhile, has come under pressure from the Opposition to accelerate the introduction of planned legislation on collective bargaining rights for workers.