SHOPFLOOR MANDATE TRADE UNION
DECEMBER 2015
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR MEMBERS ...AND LET’S MAKE 2016 COUNT! Picture: waldopepper (CC BY-NC 2.0)
WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT Good shops Good jobs... Gone.Why?
MORE THAN 600 retail workers have lost their jobs in recent months in Supervalu, Clerys and Boyers, among other retailers. These were decent, trade union jobs with secure hours and earnings and it will be devastating for the families of all those workers, particularly in the run up to Christmas. The loss of these decent jobs illustrates the continued erosion of decent work in the retail sector. When the economic crash occurred in 2008, we lost more than 55,000 retail jobs due
to a loss in disposable income of over 25%. That disposable income still hasn’t recovered, particularly for low-paid workers and the unemployed who spend all of their money in the local economy, resulting in enormous pressure in the retail sector. The lack of collective bargaining rights and the non-existent protections for low-hour contract workers means many unscrupulous employers are taking advantage of a vulnerable workforce. They are accelerating a race to the
bottom, at the expense of retail workers. That’s why we have to fight back collectively. We must support Fair Shops (www.fairshop.ie) and spend our money where workers count. We must also join our unions, get active in them, and tell all of our family and friends to join them too. Together we can protect decent work and end the race to the bottom in the retail sector. STRAIGHT TALKING SEE PAGE 2