MANDATE'S annual conference in Waterford this weekend begins on a high note. While the union may not have achieved all it wants on Sunday trading, sustained political lobbying and three major disputes with Dunnes Stores in the last two years have led the Government and Fianna Fail to agree on the need for new legislation to protect shopworkers.
The Government's controversial Working Time Bill will provide for premium pay rates for those who work Sundays. The private members' Bill from Fianna Fail's spokesman on labour affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, will make Sunday working optional.
Mandate already has agreement with some of the larger stores such as Marks and Spencer and Debenhams, that members working Sundays do so voluntarily and are paid double time. However, Dunnes Stores has insisted that new staff accept Sunday rostering as part of their regular working week. After the Bills become law, Dunnes will have to change its terms of employment.
Ideally Mandate would like to see Sunday trading by large stores banned, but it accepts this is not a likely prospect. At least this way, it hopes to halt the rapid growth of part time and casual working in the sector. Only 10 per cent of the work force in some multiples are permanent employees.
Sunday trading is not the only issue on the union agenda; predictably the political contributions by Mr Ben Dunne, when he was managing director of Dunnes Stores, feature in the resolutions. A motion from Limerick calls on the union to campaign against parties and politicians "who received Ben's shilling".
A Navan motion says the union - should use its own political muscle to wring concessions from politicians in the run up to the election, but stops short of suggesting giving them money.
It will be interesting to hear the debate on a Dublin motion calling for elections and referendums to be held on Sundays. Maybe Mandate members feel Sunday trading is all right for public service workers who staff polling booths.
An indication of the level of casualisation which now exists in the retail trade is given by the turnover in membership. While 10,000 new members were recruit leisurewear, 9,000 left. Nevertheless, with nearly 33,000 members, Mandate is the second largest union in the Republic, in spite of operating in one of the toughest industrial relations environments.
The union won a major court battle in an equality ease for 550 members at Penney's in O'Connell Street, Dublin. A High Court ruling could see the company having to pay out up to £5 million in compensation to employees, but Penney's has appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court and it could be another two years before it is heard. That could be just in time for the next conference.
In Waterford, delegates will be asked to change the union constitution so that conferences can be made biennial. Costing £80,000 a time, the union leadership will argue that the funds would be better invested in the strike fund, much depleted by the disputes at Dunnes Stores.