Drops in ocean that turned tide

WHEN Vonnie Munroe walked off her job in protest at the Dunnes Stores selling South African goods 20 years ago today, she did not realise that it would cost her her home.

The 27-year-old mother also knew very little about South Africa, except that it had a very repressive apartheid system that excluded blacks from almost everything.

But Vonnie was a member of a fairly strong union, IDATU, which had just issued a directive to all its members not to handle South African goods.

Her co-worker, Mary Manning, was the first Dunnes Stores worker to be tested on the union directive at the check-out when a woman came up to her with two South African Outspan grapefruit in July 19, 1984.

Mary prayed the woman would bypass her. But when she opted for Mary’s check-out, the 21-year-old told the customer she could not handle the South African goods because her union was opposed to the importation of goods produced under the apartheid regime.

Mary was immediately suspended and 10 more of her co-workers - including one man - clocked out in support with her at Dunnes Stores Henry Street branch in Dublin.

Vonnie, who worked in the store’s office, clocked out because she believed that blacks were being badly treated in South Africa.

“We did not know a lot about apartheid at the start, but as the strike grew we learnt more and we just wanted to let Irish people know what was really going on,” Vonnie said.

Like her fellow strikers, Vonnie did not think the strike would last long and that they would be back at work within a couple of weeks.

But they did not bargain on the resolve of Ben Dunne, who told the workers he admired their guts but wasn’t going to budge an inch.

It took two years and nine months to break the deadlock in one of the most bitter strikes the country ever witnessed. And the deadlock was only broken after the Government caved in and banned the importation of South African goods here.

But the State’s intervention came too late for Vonnie, who was forced to give up her home because she could not afford the repayments on £21 strike pay a week.

“It was huge price to pay - especially since I had a three-year-old daughter to support - but my family were very good and supported us in every way through out the strike.”

Vonnie’s mother was not as supportive of her stance in favour of the South African blacks and thought she was mad to give up her home.

But Vonnie did not think so. “Even though I was forced to take a one-bedroomed flat, we were still better off than the terrible conditions that the blacks were living in in South Africa just because of the colour of their skin,” Vonnie said.

Both she and Mary Manning were supported by eight other striking women and one man in the Henry Street Dunnes Stores branch.

Another worker from the Crumlin branch of Dunnes Stores also went on strike. Like Vonnie Munroe, the other strikers all agree now that they knew very little about South Africa or apartheid when they first refused to handle the goods from that country.

Mary Manning said they were just following union instructions. “None of us were very political and there was a huge personal sacrifice, because my wages dropped from over £100-a-week to £21 - but I was lucky to be living at home and have a very supportive family.”

The Dunnes Stores’ strikers attracted the attention of the world media for their stance, but the lack of support from the Irish public, their fellow workers, the wider trade union movement and the Church, did not help the strikers’ morale in the early days.

Mary Manning said a lot of the public were very ignorant. “One woman came up to me and said I was right not to handle South African goods because she would not either if black people had handled it before her.”

Vonnie Reynolds said many of the public spat at them and shouted abuse, calling them “nigger lovers” and telling them to “look after their own” instead.

The number of clergy ignoring the picket prompted the strikers to ask the Catholic Church for support because apartheid was immoral. But it was not until Bishop Eamon Casey publicly supported them and the Conference of Religious Superiors also issued a statement of support, that a lot of clergy stopped going in to Dunnes Stores.

It took the Irish Congress of Trade Unions a year to issue a statement of support. In the meantime two of the strikers had a visit from the Special branch who told them they were “silly little girls” who did not realise they were small cogs in a big wheel.

In 1985, Karen Guerin and Mary Manning went to London to meet Bishop Desmond Tutu when he was on his way to Stockholm to collect the Nobel Prize for peace. “Bishop Tutu was very supportive and invited us to South Africa - but when we tried to visit there we were held at gunpoint for eight hours at Jan Smuts airport and put on a plane to Heathrow,” Karen added.

This still did not deter the strikers, many of whom were now becoming more political. Karen and Michelle Gavin went on to address the UN Special Committee on Apartheid after being thrown out of South Africa.

The Irish Government eventually caved in on January 1987 and imposed a ban on the importation of all South African goods. The strikers believe they were directly responsible for this change.

“We were very young and very idealistic and hoping to change the world - we did make a significant contribution to changing the Government policy on South African goods,” Karen Guerin said.

The strike officially ended in April 1987. All the strikers were members of the former IDATU union. Their union branch official at the time, Brendan Archibold said the strike showed how workers in richer parts of the world could help those living in oppressed regions if they were prepared to take a stance.