Solidarity with the Debenhams workers

By Dave Murphy

Workers in the retail sector are facing a bloodbath of job losses and closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic with many stores unlikely to re-open and workers being thrown on the dole queues at the stroke of a pen. 

Across different sectors, some employers have tried to take advantage of the health crisis by closing businesses, or as with Debenhams placing the Irish arm of the company into liquidation during Lockdown, in the hope that they can simply walk-away from their obligations to their employees. 

Debenhams workers are fighting for rights for all workers

In this context, the defiant stand taken by the Debenhams workers over the last 100+ days can become a seminal moment in the course of this economic crash if they are successful and will become an inspiration for other workers placed into a similar situation. 

Following a 97% vote for industrial action by workers in Mandate, and a campaign of protest to highlight their situation during the lockdown, pickets have been placed on Debenhams stores 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by workers to prevent the liquidator KPMG from removing stock, valued at around €20m from the stores. 

The Debenhams workers are entitled to 4 weeks per year of service. Many in the majority female workforce have given decades of their working life to the company, yet Debenhams are trying to scuttle off without giving them a cent. Because of weak workers’ rights legislation in Ireland if a company is placed into liquidation the workers effectively lose their redundancy rights. If the liquidation, being conducted by KPMG is successful, there will be nothing left to pay workers their redundancy and they will receive only the statutory redundancy payment from the state of 2 weeks per year.

Every worker should put themselves in the shoes of a Debenhams worker and imagine the prospect of being made redundant - the financial pressure with mortgages or rent, bills, and  the pressure to find a new job - and then imagine the difference getting a decent redundancy package (which you are entitled to and some of these workers have put in 30 years for) could make in relieving some of this pressure and provide some breathing space.

With further job losses being announced across the retail sector on a daily basis, Mandate should now be actively trying to ‘organise the unorganised’  en masse across the sector in companies which have re-opened, and looking for ways to reach retail workers who haven’t returned to work yet and may not in the coming months. This group of workers will be mainly young and generally female - it can become a future bedrock for the trade union movement.

KPMG & Government versus Workers

In 2015, following the infamous treatment of the Clery’s workers, legislation was promised to prevent a similar situation from arising again. Unfortunately, here we are again! 

The Duffy Cahill Report suggested changes to the law which would give workers extra rights in any liquidation process and included measures to prevent some of the actions which Debenhams have engaged in, but it has not been acted upon by either the previous government or this one. 

While Michael Martin is offering sympathy and condolences the workers have correctly seen that their main leverage in this situation is preventing the liquidator getting access to the millions worth of stock. If the stock is liquidated, the banks, Revenue and other creditors will be looked after while the workers will be left with nothing. 

KPMG have attempted to gain access to the stock but have been turned away by pickets of the workers supported by socialist and trade union activists. This creates pressure in a number of ways - firstly KPMG can’t  proceed with the liquidation, and secondly because until the stock is removed the department stores or shopping centres cannot be leased to a new company therefore potential rents are being lost. At least in one location, Tallaght at the Square, the premises have already been leased to a new business, so the pressure is on KPMG to vacate the space. 

The next 100 days…..

So far, the government has shown no interest in getting involved in the dispute despite admitting that the workers have been treated ‘shabbily’. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens are clearly hoping that they can ‘kick the issue to touch’ - that the Dail goes on its break and that by the time they return the workers’ pickets have been broken and the liquidation has taken place. 

Socialist representatives in the Dail should pressurise the government into supporting the workers. One key demand should be that the €5m Debenhams owe to Revenue is used to increase the redundancy payment to the workers. 

Any promises of new legislation that they make is likely to not only be weak, but will also be to prevent future cases like this - so for the Debenhams workers it will be meaningless. 

If the government is successful and gets to the summer break without taking any action, it is likely KPMG will step up their campaign to retrieve and liquidate the stock. 

Irish laws are anti-worker and anti-trade union. They are encapsulated in the Industrial Relations Act which limits the forms of protest workers can engage in. It effectively means that workers are trying to fight with one hand tied behind their back. Repealing this Act ASAP should be a goal of the socialist left and trade unions in this Dail term.

But even with the Industrial Relations Act still in place there is more that the trade unions and other trade unionists could do. The Dublin Bus and Irish Rail workers set an example during the strike action at Bus Eireann a couple of years ago. When pickets were placed at their depots by Bus Eireann workers, instead of driving through them they stood in solidarity with them and refused to pass the pickets - engaging in an ‘unofficial strike’ - and brought the public transport system to a stand-still. The action demonstrated that when workers stand together they have the power. Ways to develop this type of solidarity action should be explored by the unions and workers themselves. 

KPMG could potentially use these laws to seek an injunction from the courts aimed at preventing workers maintaining their pickets and allowing them access to the stock to liquidate. 

Any such injunction can be defied and broken by the workers. This could potentially lead to the workers being dragged before the courts - this would be a massive escalation by KPMG and could create a massive backlash against them and the government in society. 

Any attempts to bring workers before the courts will sharpen the dispute and could unleash the huge support that is in society for the staff. If this happened and a major demonstration was called thousands of people could be mobilised in support of the workers. This could also have the effect of becoming a rallying point for all retail workers facing the same situation - if organised and handled correctly this could form the basis for a retail workers’ movement against the slashing of jobs.

Build a broad support group

KPMG may decide to take this route and up the ante. Alternatively they may decide to play a longer game - by trying to drag the dispute out hoping that the workers give up their pickets. 

Either way, maintaining the pickets 24/7 on the stores will be the key factor. This isn’t an easy task for the workers - it is tiring and also means that workers have to juggle their family life and other commitments around. 

The socialist left and trade union activists have been welcomed onto the pickets by workers and have played a valuable role in boosting the numbers, and being on hand when attempts have been made to remove stock. 

All the parties, activists and trade union activists supporting the workers should now come together and form a support committee to coordinate how our resources can be put to best use supporting the workers. 

This could do a number of things - activists in all parties are visiting and doing shifts on the picket line. This could now be planned and coordinated with the workers to ensure that at times when numbers may be low they can be bolstered. This would especially be the case at key times, such as early in the morning when removal trucks might access the Henry Street store. It could also increase numbers at some stores which have multiple entrances or exits through which stock can be removed. 

As well as bringing the strike onto the political plane in the Dail, activists could bring the campaign into the communities where we are active in an organised way. This could involve leaflet drops or door-knocking to speak to people about the strike and to develop a response in the communities. There are many community activists who may not necessarily see the link between their day to day work in the community and the strike by Debenhams workers - bringing these people towards actively supporting the strike can make a real difference. 

Also, by doing this we will meet other retail workers who may have been laid off, or are experiencing something similar, who can link up with the workers and trade unions and could develop into working class activists.

The Debenhams dispute needs to be actively brought into every trade union across the country. Trade union activists involved in a support committee could coordinate doing this and develop a list of demands and actions each union or union member could take - such as supporting the online boycott of Debenhams, and getting other workers to the picket line. An organised approach like this could be used to increase the pressure on ICTU to throw its full weight behind the strike. For the future, this type of action could assist in the development of left-wing networks or groupings within specific unions which can become more important as the crisis develops.

Beyond the current dispute, and looking to the future with potentially many more ‘Debenhams’ on the horizon across retail and other sectors, the development of such a committee could provide a basis for more effective support being given to workers engaging in strike action by the left.