Dunnes Stores strike

rdf:langString Dunnes Stores strike

rdf:langString On 19 July 1984, Mary Manning, a shop worker in the Henry Street, Dublin (Ireland) outlet of Dunnes Stores, refused to handle the sale of grapefruit from South Africa. Her union, IDATU, had issued directions to its members not to handle South African produce in protest of South African apartheid policies. When Manning and shop steward Karen Gearon continued to refuse to handle South African produce, they were suspended and ten IDATU members working in the store went on strike. The additional striking workers were * Liz Deasy, * Michelle Gavin, * Vonnie Munroe, * Alma Russell, * Tommy Davis, * Sandra Griffin, * Theresa Mooney, * Cathryn O'Reilly & * Brendan Barron. While the strike lasted the strikers got only £21 a week strike pay. At first, the strikers received support from few individuals and groups, such as Nimrod Sejake, but they were encouraged when Archbishop Desmond Tutu met with the strikers on his way to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and invited them to visit South Africa. Eight of the strikers travelled to South Africa in 1985, but were not permitted to enter the country. Their deportation from South Africa received extensive news coverage in Ireland. The strike lasted until April 1987 when the Irish government banned the import of South African goods. The ban came about as a result of public pressure in support of the strikers and was the first complete ban of South African imports by a Western government.