A Senior union official, Mr John Douglas, has called on Dunnes Stores to begin talks over the suspension of 174 workers at its Headford Road premises in Galway. The suspensions took place after staff occupied the canteen in protest at the manner in which a disciplinary hearing was being conducted against a member in the delicatessen section.
A company spokeswoman said yesterday that the branch would be reopening today and would be staffed by a combination of management and retail staff. She said 39 retail sales staff worked normally on Saturday and industrial action had not closed the store, as reported in The Irish Times. The closure of the store on Easter Sunday had been planned and was not due to the dispute.
She had no comment to make on Mr Douglas's call for talks, but said there might be a statement later today if there were any developments. Suspended staff only had to end their unofficial action in order to be allowed back to work.
Mandate official Mr Douglas said the dispute could be readily resolved if the company lifted the suspensions and recommenced the disciplinary proceedings it had abandoned on Thursday. However, he said the union was insisting on its right to have the suspended member represented at the hearing by her shop stewards and a full-time union official.
He denied claims that 39 regular sales staff had worked on Saturday. He said that only five out of 200 Mandate members had passed the pickets. The other staff who worked were from management grades. So far 174 staff have been suspended, but the figure could rise if part-time employees rostered to work today refuse to pass the pickets.
Any delay in solving the dispute will almost certainly lead to pressure from Mandate members to hold an official strike ballot. This could not only prolong the dispute in Galway but see it extended to other branches. The dispute arose because the company sought to limit union representation at last Thursday's disciplinary hearing to either a full-time Mandate official or a shop steward.