Labour Court recommends restoring Dunnes Stores workers’ 20-hour weeks

In 1988, the Labour Court recommended that Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt Ltd. offer to restore the original 20-hour working weeks of part-time staff, after a dispute with the Irish Distributive And Administrative Trade Union. The recommendation was signed on 16 September 1988. The union said workers with more than five years’ service had seen their hours cut from 20 to fewer than 18 a week, while newly recruited employees received more hours. Dunnes Stores said it had offered to restore the original hours, but the union disputed that. The company did not attend the hearing. The Court considered the union’s evidence and recommended that the company offer each claimant a return to 20 hours a week.