Dunnes Stores shop stewards have voted ‘unanimously’ to hold a ‘National Protest March’ on Saturday June 6, which will see workers march to Dunnes Stores Head Office in Dublin.
Mandate trade union, which is heading up the Decency for Dunnes Workers campaign, said that the protest will offer an ‘opportunity’ for members of the public to show solidarity with the workers.
“We expect Dunnes workers who are not rostered to work on the day to attend,” said Mandate assistant general secretary Gerry Light, “and they’ll be calling on their friends and family as well as other trade unionists, politicians, community groups and members of the public to attend and show their support.”
Further protests will precede the march, on a local basis, details of which will be confirmed shortly.
“The workers are also demanding that there are no delays in the implementation of robust collective bargaining legislation with strong anti-victimisation provisions,” said Light.
“We believe irresponsible employers like Dunnes should be held accountable for their actions and workers in precarious employments need some avenue to have their voices heard without being forced to take industrial action.”
Light also referenced this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, published at the weekend, which indicated that the Dunnes family has more than €1.7 billion in combined wealth.
“That enormous wealth has only been derived due to the hard work of their loyal members of staff. It’s about time the company acknowledged that hard work by meaningfully engaging with their workers through their trade union.
“It is apparent that instead of fairly distributing some of this massive accumulated wealth with their workers the Dunnes owners are intent in using it in a battle of financial means with our members, many of whom are only guaranteed 15 hours work per week.”
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
