Minister for Business and Employment Ged Nash has criticised Dunnes Stores management for failing to attend a Labour Court hearing last year to resolve issues which will result in a one-day strike at the chain on Thursday 2 April.
The minister was responding to a Dáil question from Labour TD Joe Costello regarding the looming action over low-hour and temporary contracts as well as representational rights.
He described the fact that Dunnes Stores management had not attended a Labour Court hearing on the issues last year as regrettable, disappointing and contrary to good industrial relations practice.
He acknowledged that neither the Labour Court, nor the minister could compel a company to comply with Labour Court recommendations.
However, he urged both sides to engage through the industrial relations machinery of the state.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Dunnes Stores workers attended Leinster House to brief Oireachtas members on their upcoming strike.
The workers' union, Mandate, says it represents around 5,000 of the 10,000 strong workforce in Dunnes’ 113 stores across the Republic, and says the low-hour contracts for many staff are unacceptable as they lead to uncertainty over both working hours and income.
To date Dunnes Stores has not commented publicly on the threatened strike, but in a previous communication with staff, it accused the union of engineering a dispute in pursuit of union negotiating rights, and warned that the strike would have serious consequences including redundancies and layoffs.
The company also pointed out that it had given staff 3% pay increases in each of the past two years through direct negotiation between the company and its employees.
As yet it is unclear to what extent non-unionised workers will support the strike.
Fewer Irish workers on temporary contracts
Separately, the minister has said the proportion of Irish workers on temporary contracts, which rose slightly during the recession, has fallen back to pre-recession levels.
Replying to a Dáil Question, Mr Nash said that in 2011, 10.5% of the workforce was on temporary contracts, but that figure has fallen back to 9.5% - significantly below the EU average of 14.4%.
He told the Dáil that the CSO data showed that the share of casual and part-time workers on the Live Register fell by over 11% between February 2014 and February 2015 - equivalent to 9,049 workers.
He said that since February 2013, the cumulative decrease in the number of workers on temporary contracts fell by 17,625.
He also noted that 94% of jobs created last year were full-time jobs.
He outlined to the Dáil the terms of reference of a study of zero-hour and low-hour contracts commissioned from the University of Limerick, which he hopes will be completed within months.
