Thirteen Dunnes Stores employees have been awarded over £70,000 by the Employment Appeals Tribunal for unfair dismissal, reports Padraig Yeates, Industry and Employment Correspondent. They were sacked four weeks before Christmas 1999 for leaving their work stations to attend an impromptu 25-minute meeting outside the company's Terryland branch in Galway. The meeting had been called after the suspension of three colleagues in a dispute over training.
Dunnes Stores declined to comment on the ruling yesterday but Mandate, which represented the dismissed workers, welcomed the outcome. Its general secretary, Mr Owen Nulty, said it was the latest in series of such cases and showed the company "continues to reflect the unacceptable face of Irish retailing".