53 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
53 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
The **Dublin McDonald's Strike of 1979** was a strike in two McDonald's
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in [Ireland](Ireland "wikilink") in
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[1979](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Northern_Europe "wikilink")
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with two demands: union recognition and an end to low pay.
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## Background
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McDonald's had just opened up two shops in Dublin, Ireland and had paid
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people 85p an hour, a very low rate even for the catering industry.
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After the workers there joined the [Irish Transport and General Workers'
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Union](Irish_Transport_and_General_Workers'_Union "wikilink") (ITGWU)
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management refused to recognise the union or even to talk over the phone
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to the union officials. Eventually, the enraged workers launched a
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strike on the 16th of March.
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## Events
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McDonald's instantly raised the hourly wage to £1 and offered free chips
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to anyone who would eat at the McDonald's (and thus crossing the picket
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line). Despite two strikers being arrested, morale remained high until
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McDonald's went to court and picketing was heavily restricted. Only
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three people at any one time and not at all during the last hour of
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business. Three strikers, Jimmy Mackin, Noel Boyle and Sean Mrozek, were
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ordered not to picket at all. Noel Boyle and Jimmy Mackin continued to
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picket and the union abandoned any hope of winning the strike. The
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strikers organised a march with 1,000 sympathisers, but the union
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wouldn't attend meeting or aid the strike.
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McDonald’s could have been closed if their supplies had been stopped.
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Dockers and airport workers refused to handle the scab food. Then the
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supplies started to come in through the North. The union knew that this
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food was being stored in the Superdine warehouse outside Naas but
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wouldn’t even put a picket on the place. In short they made no real
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attempt to stop the scab supplies getting in. The union officials even
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went so far as to give a list of ‘approved’ picketers to the Gardai
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[\[police]([police "wikilink")\] and to the boss. Leading to police
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harassing strikers by visiting them at their home. Luckily, other ITGWU
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members joined the picket, raised awareness and donated money as did
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socialist organisations, other unions and student groups.
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## Results
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The strike led to a wage increase to £1.15p an hour, but the working
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week was cut by 5 hours making the increase almost worthless. Howevere
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the union was recognised despite union leadership openly despising the
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strikers, and the union won no further improvements for the workers at
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McDonald's.
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## References
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[The Dublin McDonald's
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strike, 1979](https://libcom.org/history/dublin-mcdonalds-strike-1979)
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at [libcom.org](libcom.org "wikilink") |