3% pay rise for 14,000 staff at Dunnes Stores

About 14,000 staff at Dunnes Stores are to receive a 3 per cent pay increase. The move represents the first pay rise for staff at the retailer since December 2007.

The trade union Mandate said the company did not attend a hearing at the Labour Court yesterday but informed its 14,000 personnel that it would be increasing pay by 3 per cent.

Mandate had sought a 3 per cent pay rise for staff in the company. The union’s assistant general secretary, Gerry Light, said most retail companies had emerged intact from the crisis and had remained highly profitable.

He said industry sources estimated that Dunnes Stores was generating sales in the region of €3.8 billion annually and was “achieving significant profits – due in large part to the efforts of their staff”.

“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. 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.”

Mr Light said that as a result of this process – and with Dunnes’ concession of the union’s pay claim yesterday – more than two-thirds of Mandate’s 45,000 members will have received pay increases by 2013 ranging from 1.5 per to 3 per cent. He said while he welcomed the company’s concession of the 3 per cent pay claim, he was disappointed at Dunnes Stores’ 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.

He described the company’s attitude in its dealings with its staff, their union and the Labour Court as dismissive.

“The company persists in being high-handed in its dealings with their workers . . . and the institutions of the State. They might learn from some of their competitors that treating people with respect is in a business asset, not a liability.”