The Government has been accused of "betraying" thousands of shop workers with its "U-turn" on Sunday trading. The president of Mandate, Ms Patricia Gaffney, has told delegates to the union's conference in Dublin that Fianna Fail had made political capital out of its promise to regulate Sunday trading in the last election, and the party's actions since "can only be seen as a betrayal". Yesterday, she singled out the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, and the Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt. This is the first time the State's third-largest union has not invited a Minister for Labour to address the opening session of its biennial conference.
Unregulated Sunday trading had worsened pay and conditions for shop workers, who were having to pay the price for unbridled internal competition in the retail sector, said Ms Gaffney. Mr Kitt's introduction of a Private Members' Bill to regulate Sunday trading in 1996 had been welcomed by all who worked in retail stores.
"Tom Kitt I know as a politician with social vision. Sadly, he has proven that when it counted he blinked and the result is the chaos we now have in trading hours," she said. "When in Government he went against his own Private Members' Bill, of which the cornerstone was to give shop workers the legal right to opt out of Sunday working."
She also criticised the Labour Party spokesman on Justice, Mr Pat Upton, for seeking longer opening hours in the licensing trade. "The health and safety of many young workers will be put at risk, as it is those young workers who will be required to operate most of the extended hours."
Unregulated trading hours would mean more than 50 per cent of retail workers were either casual or part-time, she said.
Mr Owen Nulty, Mandate's general secretary, said: "Nobody forced Fianna Fail to make their election pledge. Nobody forced them to write it down in black and white and put it in their manifesto". But having made that pledge "they must honour it".
He also criticised employer organisations and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for their attitudes to Sunday trading. In the most outspoken criticism of the ICTU by a senior trade union leader for some time, Mr Nulty said: "No real campaign has been initiated or sustained by the ICTU in furtherance of these issues, despite the motions adopted by two separate delegate conferences."
The general secretary of the ICTU, Mr Peter Cassells, urged delegates to work with progressive employers to create better conditions. Congress would use its strength to support Mandate against "mean-minded shopkeepers who exploit staff".
In a statement later, Mr Kitt said he needed to balance the concerns of employees, business and the consumer on Sunday trading. He felt the best approach was to seek consensus. With continued good will on all sides any obstacles could be overcome.