Connolly Shoes Campaign Continues
Wednesday 22 December 2010The Connolly Shoes workers have now been on strike since early April, nearly nine months with no sign of any breakthrough. Despite this, their spirits remain remarkably high.
During the summer Connolly Shoes in Dun Laoghaire ceased trading in both of its stores and the premises were put on the market to rent. During this time our four members, who had been dismissed, kept a token picket on the main store for a couple of hours each day.
In early November the main store re-opened with notices in the window which indicated that it was now trading under the name “Shuvalu”. A subsequent investigation revealed that the “new” company had been registered with Matt Connolly, the owner of Connolly Shoes, and his mother as the directors. Pickets were immediately resumed on a permanent basis and have continued to date despite the terrible weather. As always many of the public won’t pass the pickets despite the owner’s efforts with sale and discount signs littering the windows of the store.
The unfairly dismissed Mandate members have successfully brought a number of cases to the Rights Commissioners’ Service under the Payment of Wages Act 1991. In two cases awards of over 4,000 euro have been awarded in their favour. It would appear that Matt Connolly, who did not appear at any of the hearings, intends to appeal these decisions to the EAT. This will mean a further delay of at least 12 months due to present waiting list for hearings at the EAT.
