RETAILER DUNNES STORES has today been informing its 14,000 staff that it will be increasing their pay by 3 per cent. This will be the first increase in wages for the staff since December 2007.
Trade union Mandate, which attended the Labour Court this morning seeking the pay rise, said that workers recognised that they had to weather the economic crisis and that is why they have forgone pay increases over the last few years and some have even taken cuts.
Mandate’s Assistant General Secretary, Gerry Light said that most retail companies, have emerged intact from the crisis and have remained highly profitable.
“Since early 2011 Mandate Trade Union has sought to engage with retail employers to put in place pay arrangements that reflect their workers’ contribution to that success,” he said. “The vast majority of employers have engaged with us and through negotiation, we have been able to put in place a variety of agreements that reflect the economic and trading conditions being experienced by those companies.”
Light said that while he welcomed the news of the pay increase he was disappointed at the company’s “continuing failure to respect their staff’s right to be represented by a trade union”.
“Unlike many of the other major retailers – who are still extremely successful – Dunnes refuses to engage with their staff’s union of choice and didn’t even attend the Labour Court today,” he said.
“Hopefully, they might learn from some of their competitors that treating people with respect is in fact a business asset, not a liability,” he added.
Related: Court to hear petition to wind up Dunnes Stores next month>
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