The plight of a family caught up in the maintenance strike, which brought Irish industry to a standstill in 1969.
Industry was brought to a standstill in 1969 by a strike of 3,000 maintenance workers. It was Ireland’s most expensive strike to date and resulted in the loss of a million man hours and around £7 million in export orders. The strikers placed pickets on companies that had maintenance departments and because many workers were reluctant to pass a picket, up to 30,000 non-maintenance staff found themselves caught up in the dispute.
The Whelan family in Dublin were affected when husband Jimmy was laid off from work because machines were not operational due to the strike. His wife Marie explains how they were left with no source of income except for food vouchers and money from her family. Jimmy is not entitled to strike pay, but was not given any social welfare either, even though he himself was not on strike and the family got notice to quit their flat.
After four and half weeks, the maintenance strike was settled with a generous pay increase for the workers.
Title: |
Maintenance Strike |
Clip Duration: |
00:05:10 |
Material Type: |
Video |
Clip Title: |
“We Have No Source of Income At All” |
Series Title: |
Seven Days |
Information: |
'Seven Days' began broadcasting on 26 September 1966 and was RTE television's flagship current affairs programme for ten years. The programme's young production team was made up of producer Lelia Doolan, directors Eoghan Harris and Dick Hill, and reporters John O'Donoghue, Brian Cleeve and Brian Farrell. Muiris Mac Conghail became producer of '7 Days' in 1967 when the programme was merged with another current affairs programme, 'Division'. |
Local Keywords: |
Industrial disputes, Maintenance strike, Pickets, Strike pay, Social Welfare entitlements, Marie Whelan, Jimmy Whelan |
Coverage: |
Ireland |
Topic: |
Society and Social Issues |
Publisher: |
RTÉ |
First Broadcast Channel: |
RTÉ |
Broadcast Date: |
04/03/1969 |
Production Year: |
1969 |
Country of Production: |
Ireland |
Original Identifier: |
P189/00069 |
IPR Restrictions: |
Rights Reserved - Free Access |
Rights, Terms and Conditions: |
Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives. If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us. RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us. |
Item Type: |
part/extract |
Colour: |
Black and White |
Sound: |
Mono |
Aspect Ratio: |
4:3 |
Language: |
English (eng) |
Original Language: |
English (eng) |
