Businesses react to the third major bank strike in a decade by refusing to cash cheques.
A 12-week bank strike in 1966 and a 6-month strike in 1970 left Ireland without a banking system in an era before ATMs and online self-service banking. The supply of cash dried up quickly. Many traders who agreed to cash customers’ cheques ended up going out of business and were targeted by fraudsters.
By the time a third bank strike loomed in 1976, businesses were extremely wary, having been badly burned in 1970. ‘Seven Days’ interviewed John Gunnigle of Superquinn, Joe Fitzsimons of Foxes Covert pub in Tallaght and garage owner James Barton about how they would handle this latest strike.
The 1976 bank strike lasted for two months until it was called off by the union. All three banking disputes related to pay and the first two were settled in the workers’ favour.
| Title: | Bank Strike |
| Clip Duration: | 00:05:22 |
| Material Type: | Video |
| Clip Title: | “Sorry No Cheques Accepted” |
| 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, Bank strike, Banking system, Retail, John Gunnigle, Superquinn, Joe Fitzsimons, Foxes Covert, James Barton |
| Coverage: | Ireland |
| Genre: | Factual |
| Topic: | Society and Social Issues |
| Provider: | RTÉ |
| Publisher: | RTÉ |
| First Broadcast Channel: | RTÉ |
| Production Year: | 1976 |
| Country of Production: | Ireland |
| Original Identifier: | P195/00076 |
| 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: | Colour |
| Sound: | Mono |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Language: | English (eng) |
| Original Language: | English (eng) |
