The Dunnes Stores Strike

This chapter frames the Dunnes Stores strike, which began in July 1984 when twenty-one-year-old checkout worker Mary Manning refused to handle two South African grapefruits and ended almost three years later. It explores the industrial background to the dispute—which had been rumbling for years between Dunnes Stores and the Irish Distributive and Administration Trade Union (IDATU)—as well as the tensions between the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement (IAAM) and IDATU’s militant leadership. The chapter argues that the IAAM was unable to control the strike, with Kader Asmal particularly nervous about its momentum. Nonetheless, many activities from rank-and-file IAAM supporters, as well as members across the whole of Ireland (especially in Cork and north of the border), are shown to have been energized by the Dunnes dispute. The chapter discusses the unsettling effect of the strike on both the Catholic Church and the Irish trade union establishment, both of whom had been rhetorically supportive of the anti-Apartheid struggle. It covers the strikers’ dramatic trip to South Africa in the summer of 1985, as well as the international solidarity they received and the day-to-day challenges and encounters on the picket line, which were a mixture of inspirational highs and depressing lows. The chapter suggests that the legendary reputation of the strike as a cause célèbre contrasts with the hostility the strikers faced on the picket line. It concludes with the mainly women workers’ afterlives following the episode, as well as their trip to South Africa following Nelson Mandela’s passing in 2013.