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Hard to find Irish food in lidl. Lots if cheese etc with Irish-sounding names, all made in UK.
No point in replacing one kind of slavery with another. Aldi source a lot more food here.
If working for Dunnes Lidl or Aldi can be described as slavery I think you should call the United Nations in.
In a loony left wing world we could all sit at home in the lap of luxury and not do a tap.
But unfortunately some will have to work to provide the luxuries the for Loony left.
Nothing loony left about just wanting fair working conditions. As it stands at the moment in Dunnes it is basically slavery, in the sense of not having any control over your destiny and being subject to the whims of high-handed despots
@ right wing……the situation is a little more complex! agreed in the true sense of the word….it may not be slavery however dunnes mgt use unfair work practices and a divide and conquer approach. they have a core group of “favourites” that get some of the “nicer” tasks that have to be done. now, i am not suggesting that the best person shouldnt be picked to do any job but it must be difficult to be working in a store for a number of years and see as some one that only started gets to work say in the cash office or reception.
then this seems be the same system regarding hours….if you are in the circle you get extra if you are not you dont, as simple as!!
it seems gone are the day that people are treated fairly ! the situation with dunnes is exactly like our government ……its run with arrogance and a divide and conquer scheme which really doesnt care whether you can survive it or not! dunnes have their money made and couldnt care less just like those in government have their salaries and pensions and are so far removed from the struggle, that nothing matters!
Richard Dunnes are too mean to advertise, and i guarantee you Lidl or Aldi do not need to advertise, the reason they do so is they have a theme every week Italy Spain Poland etc, at least Lidl does and i love shopping there exotic meats veg fruit yummy.
And much cheaper than Dunne’s Or Tesco’s.
Right Wing
We’ll all be working for an extra 3 years to age 68 to pay the bankers debts and keep Michael Fingelton and his ilk in the luxury they’ve become accustomed to. Are those parasites looney lefties in your right wing mind?
@ann i agree but that happens in all work places in ireland some places have the whole family working for the just look at the dail. it should be done on rotation to be more fair. i don,t think they have any more irish product than any other supermarket and i find the irish products are more expensive. but to be honest its been weeks since i have been to dunnes. but dunnes has shown contempt for the people by its silence. i find boycotting a very powerful tool when the takings go down maybe the talking will start.
@ noreen, yes i agree with you i certainly dont find dunnes cheap and hope that a boycott works, dunnes silence is another arrogant tactic as they feel they dont have to answer to staff, customers or anyone!
I wouldn’t recommend working in either German stores. I was in Aldi for nine years. Everyone will try to stab you in the back when it comes to trying to get promoted or see you as a threat. Hardworking staff treated like crap while big earners get away with everything, and nothing said. If you report anything suspicious about anyone your life is made hell until you are forced to leave. The place very nearly killed me and it all down to a mindless, inconsiderate person or persons. I’m a great believer in karma and they’re time will come. I’m in a far better place now, that’s for sure.
sorry but I have to say , people seem to forget what flexi part time means , if people want set hours then is it not up to them to find a job that has set hours instead of forcing a company to give it to them ?
suzie again the situation is more complex…..for those that only want 15hrs (mostly students) then thats fine…but what is some one NEEDS a job and agree to any conditions to keep the roof over their family’s head! they get used to 20hrs or more for maybe even 2-3 years, then there is a change of management and they dont click with the new manager….end result they are back down to 15 hours and still have the bills to pay when they were on 20+ hours! also, there are some people that dont want to “job hop” they want to stay in a particular job for many reasons but hope that they will rise or get promoted in the job….flexi should work both ways but it seems in dunnes it only is available to the chosen few!
Ann , I totally get that but on the other side of the coin , they want set hours , when at the moment they could get up to 37 hours in peak season. so if they do get 20 hours set contract then there is no chance of them getting extra in the summer or at Christmas . there is a big opportunity to move up the ladder in there if they want stability to keep a roof over their heads . at the end of the day it’s up to you to better yourself .
@ suzie yes ok but why cant some one better themselves fairly??? also, dunnes etc project sales and do so pretty accurately so why cant they stabilize the “extra” hours for those and of course pending on the business! the extra hours for christmas and summer still stand as certainly for the month of december and summer holiday time no matter what retail outlet you are in you simply cant have enough staff!
I never suggested that working for lidl was slavery. The problem is slavery in the supply chain, a particular problem in the UK. I refuse to buy food that was processed or grown in the UK, for those reasons; I won’t shop in tesco and having looked at the offering in lidl, I won’t go back there either.
Deborah , you’re spot on there , she doesn’t give a damn and age won’t bow down to this either . she won’t let anyone dictate to her in what way she should run her business. Ben Dunne was the only man that could’ve changed things in there . he said himself that the whole board of directors needed to be changed
Ann , you can’t have it both ways if they get a set 20 hours then there will be no going over that . they will lose out on their extra hours during peak seasons . the only thing I will agree on is the fact of having no full time positions . that’s not right .
@ suzie yep have to agree with you there , there needs to be more full time positions, not looking for it to be both ways though suzie….i would disagree and say its the employer is looking for it both ways! again i agree with you regarding ben dunne, things would have not come to this if he was in charge. heffernan is on a mission to defeat unions and would run dunnes stores to the ground before she will give in!
Ann , I agree she would rather run it into the ground than give in to the unions sure even staff moving up into management must agree to leave the union first , and guess what ? the unions don’t seem to have a problem with that.
Ann all retail employers have this mentality. If your face fits you get all the “nice” stuff and better shifts and overtime. I agree with Dunnes staff standing up for themselves but they are not the worst treated retail workers on the high street. Other large retailers whether Irish owned or Multinational have smaller contracts than Dunnes lowest of 15 hours and are on lower rates of pay. Hopefully the Dunnes protest will make the others sit up and take notice and their Union Mandate then do for them what they have done for Dunnes members
They give 30 hours ti students who dont want them and 20 to people with families to support whi might be there longer and on a higher hourly rate.its blatant abuse if staff
Yes it is cos the contract is 15-37 but most peiple never see the top end of that scale. The option of full time work was there and sime people still are full time but dunnes decided to stop giving this option
People are looking at pay levels as an issue rather than taxation. I would argue that reducing taxation would benefit people more than pay rises. Also, companies like Dunnes are making staff work part time because it is cheaper overall than full time. Two part time workers cost less than one full time all again due to the way we are taxed and charged. Even if you are a low wage earner and pay little income tax, you still pay USC, VAT, LPT, VRT, road tax, carbon tax, PSOL, Pension levy, insurance levy, credit/debit card tax, flying into Ireland tax and on and on and on, all paid for from our already taxed wages. When all taxes are factored into the theft equation most people will be paying 75% of everything they earn to the government. So again I say that taxation is the problem we should be looking at before anything else.
I, for one, hope that it does.
Easy to be cynical about these things. A lot of people will likely feel that protests make no difference generally – but without them, no “line in the sand” is drawn.
Companies will always seek to lower their overheads – and for the most part, wages & salaries are a massive overhead. If people don’t say “stop” then companies will continue to squeeze.
Protest isn’t always about trying to reverse things or push back in an opposite direction – sometimes it’s just “enough is enough”.
you can’t have it both ways Suzie. walking in the street had no meaning to these ppl. profits and market share is the inky thing that will make them sit up and notice.
I have decided not to shop in Dinner stores until the treat their workers with dignity and respect. Dinner stores are like the Land lords of the 18th century and are treating their workers like slaves. It is not the only company doing this, there is a pattern of this in irish company culture, exploitation of WORKERS.
Being neither RIght no Left wing, this is an observation I make about present working conditions and how workers rights are being walked all over, very similar to the early 1900′s. Workers rights have deteriorated in this country and this deterioration has been systematically backed by the fat cats of the Dail, the unions and some companies in ireland and media. We need to respect our workforce.
michael mulcahy…spot on! the 15 hour contract as far as i can see ( talking to staff) is not really an issue! for many the 15hr is exactly what many want, its those that have been working 20-35 on top of the 15 for years is the problem and especially if you need documentation for a loan etc…..also, its the daily treatment of staff in general….the snide comments, stopping them from parking in dunnes carparks especially at christmas, many of the manager really have a very poor attitude to staff and customers.
over the last few years every right a worker has , has been abused and people are afraid to speak up! and the thing is the unions turned a blind eye to many of the things that were going on….we are now at a stage where, government,unions, employers, organisations have absolute no regard for the ordinary person other than pay up, do as your told and pay for the mistakes of those that will never have to worry if they can pay an esb bill or food bill or keep a roof over their head!
I thank God that ordinary people are finding their voices and finding their power through collective cooperation, and protests. They can forget about established unions, the executives are earning excessively high salaries to be able to represent Ordinary workers , they are in league with the government and the deterioration of workers rights and pretend to be on the Ordinary workers side. These cooperative union leaders over the years get promoted by the governments of the time to senate, to labor relations etc. for their support.
Since the strike in our store we cant swop shifts and must give 6weeks notice fir a day off.so what if people have something come up with little notice like hospital appointment. Its normal decency is whatbstaff want
@ von totally agree , ben dunne wasnt the worst of them and at least he was fair. heffernan on the other had went way above the mark trying to prove that business women are better again we can equate this to joan bruton and how she has demonised single mothers!
If Dunnes know what they are doing, its up to the people of Ireland to stand together and not shop there, they will soon see the error of their ways, and treat their staff with dignity. I haven’t shopped there since she decided to close the Dunne’s in Wexford. More shops in Ireland than theirs and you don’t feel the element of the staff as in Dunne’s.
to a point Gavin. much of the infrastructure stays in place. but losing market share would be hard to take for Dunnes as it’s so hard to win it back. my suggestion is coordinated consumer strikes. don’t spend any money in Dunnes for a day, then 2 days, then 3, etc until the company take some notice.
This has nothing to do with Margaret Heffernan being tough. It’s to do with the reaction of the public. If Dunnes sales drop by even 10% Margaret Heffernan will caught by the short n curlies.
Everybody gets hours when the area manager is “on the way” people called in early and asked to stay in late the nite before if they think he/she will come the next day. That just shows they have hours to give and use them to cover their own backs so they won’t get in trouble with the main bosses
Maybe the only way Dunnes can listen and offer their employees the same working conditions workers at Musgrave(Super-Value) and Tesco enjoy is if the consumer step in and form some sort of association to threat Dunnes stores. Regular customers with value cards who makes their weekly shopping there, these are people who spend an average of €600+ per month to give their business to Tesco, Lidl, etc if possibly while making sure Dunnes knows about it, but it would have to be a united force of registered Dunnes consumers.
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