TG4 will air a new documentary on the 1984 anti-Apartheid strike which saw Dunnes Stores workers refuse to handle produce from South Africa in a dispute which escalated into a three-year stand-off with the Irish establishment.
Torthaí na Daoirse will be shown tonight (October 22) at 9.30pm on TG4 and tells the full story of how Mary Manning, a 21-year-old worker at Dunnes on Henry Street in Dublin, followed a directive from her union and ended up taking on the might of her employers and much of the Irish establishment.
In keeping with a directive from her own union, Manning refused to register the sale of an Outspan grapefruit. She and ten other workers who supported her action were suspended from work with immediate effect and a strike ensued.
What seemed like a local matter, which would be resolved in a few days, turned into a lockout lasting two years and nine months. It only ended when the Irish government agreed to implement a complete ban of the import of South African goods until the apartheid regime was overthrown.
Participants on Torthaí na Daoirse include Mary Manning, Áine Ní Éalaí, Ben Dunne, Brendan Archbold, Brendan Ryan, Des Geraghty, Bishop Desmond Tutu and sitting TDs, Finian McGrath and Ruairí Quinn.
