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STRIKES COULD BE “unavoidable” among Dunnes Stores staff who are locked in an industrial dispute with the retail chain.
That warning came from the Mandate Trade Union, which represents retail employees, after it said Dunnes refused a request from the Labour Court that it meet with workers.
The union said Dunnes had since written to the court to advise the company saw “no purpose in any meeting” over the dispute which has been running for about 8 months.
Assistant general secretary Gerry Light said the letter “demonstrates the arrogance and utter lack of respect senior management have for their own workers”.
“Ultimately the next steps in our (campaign) will be decided by our members and we most certainly cannot rule out disruptive action in the near future,” he said.
One Dunnes employee, Sarah Brown, from Dublin, said insecurity over working hours was a “major issue” for nearly all workers and the problem needed to be dealt with immediately.
The company employs nearly 15,000 people and operated 155 stores across Ireland, the UK and Spain, with the vast majority in the Republic.
Dunnes Stores has been contacted for comment but the company hasn’t responded yet.
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Dunnes are one horrible company to work for, most managers in Dunnes need some people skills, hope I’m never unlucky enough to work for a shower like them again. I’ve never stepped foot inside a Dunnes since I left.
I would think there are a few tesco shoppers or supporters replying
Dunes are kicking ass and are keeping prices down yet during the recession they manage to award employees with a extra 3%
The working hours need to be sorted out
15/24 hrs is a usual weeks hours spread over 7 days,
So the employee can’t draw the dole..Dunnes definitely in cahoots with social welfare office.
that’s how Joan Burton manipulates the live register. ..
Second that, an awful shower. Top heavy with useless managers/assistants to seem to spend their day standing around berating people. And don’t dare a customer approach them.
Best of luck to the Dunne’s workers. It’s not just about pay for them, it’s about security of hours so people have the certainty of income if they want to do things like buy a house or even just rent. Disgraceful from the company the way it’s behaving, I’m sure the top management aren’t facing into the uncertainty of hours been cut!
Ah remember the good old days of worrying if dunnes was on strike in December..A horrible backward shop and the staff are terrible too they should be sent to aldi on a weekly basis to see how there job should be done.
I worked on the bread run a few years back and was putting bread on the shelf in dunnes and the manger wanted 20 loafs on the shelves that could only hold 12. I told him the bread would be squeezed and he went of on one. I told him to calm down or I’ll squeeze the van in the gap between his teeth. Ended up losing my job over it..
To the likes of Dunne’s Stores workers are just a necessary inconvenience. Needed, but held in contempt by management. When you consider a contract that gives you the minimum wage with no fixed hours and no social welfare entitlements, it is work or starve. Slave labour in other words. Working for Dunnes is the nearest thing in a first world country to working in a third world sweatshop. This is what awaits us all if the Neo-liberals get a firm grip on power.
Most of the Multi Nationals will not leave a union inside the door and rightly so… The likes of Jack O Conor and his shower of absolute Labour Lackeys will ruin thus Country again if we allow them into the power brokers offices
When I read stuff like this I just don’t want to shop at dunnes anymore. The management need to cop on I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking like this plenty of other options in most areas now.
I’ve never liked them, seem like greedy so and so’s. Can’t think of any charity they donate to off hand either. The shops look rundown and unorganised. Constant trouble over child and parent parking. I’ve stopped going ages ago.
“Workers have been calling for more secure hours and better pay, although in June staff got a 3% wage rise.”
Unless the conditions of their employment have changed since they accepted employment, I have no sympathy for them. They accepted a contract of employment and now want to retrospectively alter it. They’ve also gotten a wage increase recently.
“Unless the conditions of their employment have changed since they accepted employment, I have no sympathy for them. They accepted a contract of employment and now want to retrospectively alter it. They’ve also gotten a wage increase recently.”
Find this attitude absolutely laughable. Why shouldn’t people work to improve their working conditions? If you’re not guaranteed your hours each week what difference does a 3% pay increase make? If you get cut down to your basic hours you’ll not benefit from the minimal increase. I’m sure Dunnes management worked to offset the slight increase in pay by cutting hours.
If you work between 15 and 24 hours over 7 days do you really think 3% makes the blindest bit of difference? To put things in context, an employee working 20 hrs a week for €8.65 would earn €173; 3% on that is €178.19 so just over a fiver basically. Given that this employee is likely to have this spread over four to five days they are entitled to nothing from Social Welfare. You are essentially saying that you have no sympathy for people who are working, are not getting any social welfare and are scraping by on less that €200 per week. That’s some attitude you got on there, bud. Happy Christmas.
@ Graham – if their conditions have been changed then absolutely they should try and fight it.
I never said Dunnes stores practices or wage rates were good or adequate, only if you’ve already agreed to work under them and they haven’t changed, I don’t support retrospective emendation. Do you think the bank should be allowed to change your mortgage terms retrospectively?
They’re looked for banded contracts, which most Irish retailers offer or have agreed to offer in recent years. This basically means that if you are on an 8 hour contract, but you work 20 hours a week for x-amount if time, that you can’t suddenly be shunted back down to 8. You would be moved into the next band of hours.
If the work is there to offer these hours to staff over a long period of time, then it’s there to contract to the staff.
They need to adapt the Banded hours contract’s that works well for Penneys and Tesco staff How can they expect their workers to be able to apply for loans,mortgages etc when they have no certainty of earnings? Actually surprised their staff haven’t striked yet.
Amazed that there have not been a lot more strikes,with so many people struggling to make ends meet.No sign of a national pay increase,or are they gone for good.
So someone signs a contract with Dunnes, probably cos they cant get any other job, and according to some contributers here they should never look for more pay or benefits. What a stupid attitude. Most employees that enjoy decent wages/hours do so as a result of someone sticking their neck out and rocking the boat.
Nice to know theres a bit of solidarity with fellow workers!
Good point Trevor. Unfortunately a job isn’t good enough for the semi-illiterate readership of this haven of ill-informed and poorly-articulated pretense at expression of opinion. Has to be a well-paying job with great benefits, and no responsibility or long hours. Add in a bit of promotion to even higher pay, and there you go. People have degrees after all (as if a BSc from some IT stands for anything given the current state of the education system), and deserve all of this. Perish the thought that a job might mean starting at the bottom and working up (emphasis on the word ‘working.’)
The “just be happy you have a job” line ends up with everybody working for a pittance and people being at the beck and call of unscrupulous employers with no certainty of income from week to week.
You see that phrase “be happy to have a job” Trevor it really is such a silly comment.
So what your saying is just get on with it, let the companies take advantage of employees, the employer makes a massive profit and let the workers who put 100 percent in, barely have enough to do them until next wage, and also don’t know how many hours next week they have to work..
People like you need to evaluate the whole story before making sill comments. There’s no point in having a job if your making less than someone on welfare..
We need to support each other and no the bigger companies
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