Oh, you can't scare me, I'm stickin to the Union

Crumlin, Ashleaf Shopping centre 11/2/06 12 - 3.30pm

A report on the successful information picket at the Ashleaf shopping centre on which took place on Saturday 11th February. Every entrance to the shopping centre and the store is covered and worker and shoppers alike wear the trade union badge that Joanne Delaney was sacked last November for wearing. Loads of pictures of placards.

I stopped shopping in Dunnes for years after the South Africa strike, Ive only just gone back but not again. Not after they did this.
But how can they do that. Sure dont you have the right to wear your badge.
Yeah I heard about that, of course Ill wear a sticker. They cant get away with that.

Itd be a lie to say that support was unanimous for the picket at the Ashleaf shopping centre in support of Joanne Delaney. One man walked by me saying that he had lost his job and the union had done nothing for him. Others said they were in a rush, or that no, they couldnt wear a sticker in support of that. But this was by far the minority and by three oclock, the majority of people in the Ashleaf shopping centre were wearing a sticker with the union badge that Joanne Delaney was sacked for wearing.

There were pickets at all the entrances to the shopping centre and most people were happy to stop, sign the petition and put a sticker on their lapel. Inside the centre kids were circulating with leaflets and sheets of stickers and people were reading and talking about the case.

Can I stop you for a moment to talk to you about Joanne Delaney
Will you support the young girl who was sacked by Dunnes management
We're not asking for a mass boycott at the moment, but go in and show the sticker to the managers in there, if you do shop there.

At the front entrance there was a table with a box of leaflets and stickers and a big posterboard stack that every now and again, people would talk about setting up somewhere. The stream of people arriving included the sinn fein councillors there to take Joanne off to an event she was speaking at and others living in the area whod called in to help out. Dunnes workers came out for their cigarette break and chatted to the pickets and the security, whose company is organised by SIPTU, came out to give the soccer and rugby scores. Joannes sister was there in her uniform on her break and the rest of her family came along including her father John who talked about his own union, Batu.

There was a stream of leaflets and stickers from the front entrance around to the side entrance and into the shopping centre where groups of people stood at the bottom of the travelator and at the columns by the entrance to the Dunnes outlet. The tannoy told everybody that the moving walkway from the car park into the centre was a travelator and played 98fm as groups of people all over the Ashleaf centre talked about a 22 year old who got the sack from her job for believing in trade unionism. While those of us who had answered the call of the support group for a picket focussed on giving out information about Joanne, Irish Ferries, South Africa and a host of union struggles were raised by the people of Crumlin.

You cant touch me cause Im in the union
An injury to one is an injury to all
My friends, it is solidarity of labor we want. We do not want to find fault with each other, but to solidify our forces and say to each other: "We must be together; our masters are joined together and we must do the same thing."

There were officials from Joannes own and other unions on the picket today and lay activists and senior committee members from still more, including my own, the ATGWU. In an environment where trade unionists are told they have access to the corridors of power but know that often their own members are made to hide their union membership this issue resonates well beyond Dublin 12. The support group has made sure that Joanne has been informed of the solidarity expressed around Ireland and the world, of the pickets and protests that the labour movement inspires. Over the next weeks district committees and councils will debate this, spurred on by members who have read or heard about the issue and know that sometimes you have to take a stand. The movement needs to show visible support for the principles it was founded on, and in this case has the opportunity to build on the momentum of Irish Ferries and campaign for the role of trade unions in our workplaces.

The support group is meeting on Tuesday evening and the expectation is that next Saturday will see more leaflets, more stickers, more pickets. Today there was a queue of people expressing their views to the Dunnes store management and already people started saying they wouldnt shop in the store. While everybody knows that a corporation like Dunnes can only really respond to a financial threat the objective is not to damage the company. The point is to get Joanne Delaney reinstated and make sure that in our workplaces we can visibly and proudly be organised, together, into a trade union.