Little progress in talks to resolve Dunnes dispute

TALKS between unions and management in the Dunnes Stores dispute were adjourned last night, seemingly without making much progress.

At the end of the five hours of talks, a Mandate official, Mr Maurice Sheehan, said the situation was "as difficult now as it was when we went in".

Mandate's general secretary, Mr Owen Nulty, described the discussions as very difficult. "We will be looking at what has been said to us, Sometimes the best progress is made slowly.

The discussion began at 4 p.m. at the offices of accountant Oliver Freeney, in Dublin, at the invitation of management. The board of Dunnes Stores had been considering its position on procedures for dealing with disputes since the breakdown of talks on Sunday.

Mr Nulty said the unions were doing their utmost to resolve the dispute but would not specify where the difficulties lay. He said the discussions would resume in the morning.

The leader of the Dunnes Stores negotiating team, a director, Mr Andrew Street, would not confirm that there had been little progress. "It's very good that we are still talking," he said, adding he was not sure if a deal could be done today, "but we'll carry on and see how we can get on".

The strike, which has stopped business in all 73 Dunnes Stores outlets in the Republic for the second time in 14 months is unlikely to end before the weekend even if the talks result in agreement. Any deal will have to be put to a ballot.

Associations representing small businesses and suppliers have said the dispute is costing about £1 million per day.

Going into yesterday's talks, Mr Street said the company recognises our responsibility in that it the striker is doing a lot of damage not only to us but the small businesses and lots of other people".

The breakdown in talks at the weekend occurred when members of the board raised difficulties over the procedures for dealing with future disputes. The company has said it has no difficulty, in principle, with the use of third parties such as the Labour Court or the Labour Relations Commission. The precise issue which is causing difficulties has not yet been revealed.

Workers on the picket lines yesterday said they were anxious to get back to work but were determined that any deal agreed would have to be implemented. The majority of Dunnes Stores outlets did not open yesterday, and business in shopping centres where Dunnes Stores outlets are the anchor tenant suffered a drop in business for the second day.

The Fianna Fail TD, Mr Tom Kitt, has called on the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton, to intervene. Senator John Dardis of the Progressive Democrats has called for third-party arbitration. However, Mr Bruton has expressed confidence that the dispute can be resolved "at an early date" through head-to-head negotiations between the two sides.