Dunnes 3pc pay rise ‘is not enough’, says union

A THREE per cent pay increase for all workers at Dunnes Stores will not mean an end to industrial action, the Mandate trade union has warned management.

Staff at the supermarket discovered they had been given the increase at ‘in-store communications meetings’ with middle ranking management this week.

The pay increases have been backdated to May 1 and will apply to all workers.

The Mandate trade union has hailed the pay rise as a concession by management of the pay claim it submitted to Dunnes in mid-April. Dunnes Stores was not available to confirm or deny this yesterday. The 3 per cent increase is the third such pay rise in three years and will make a meaningful difference to full-time staff according to the union.

But Mandate Assistant General Secretary Gerry Light said that for the pay increase to be really meaningful Dunnes must implement secure contracts with fixed numbers of hours.

‘This concession of our claim for a 3 per cent pay increase is important, and it shows our campaign is making progress, but workers also need security of hours. What use is a pay increase if management can reduce your hours by two or three in a week, leaving you with less income?’ he asked.

‘Any pay increase must be implemented with banded hour contracts to ensure workers have secure earnings from week to week. At the moment they don’t know if they’ll have the hours and the income to pay their electricity bill or feed their families next month. They can’t get a mortgage or a credit union loan because of their low-hour contacts,’ Mr Light said.

Mandate said its industrial action campaign will continue with a number of demonstrations nationwide, including one in Dublin on June 6.