A dispute over an 8 per cent pay claim sought by butchers working for Superquinn has escalated with SIPTU due to apply to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) for approval of an all-out picket of the stores.
All but six of Superquinn's 19 shops and eight shopping centres are affected, and shops are operating with varying degrees of service.
A total of 120 members of Dublin's SIPTU food branch are pursuing the claim. SIPTU assistant branch secretary Mr Brendan Carr, speaking on RTÉ today, said the dispute was over a disparity in wages between butchers and their colleagues.
He said his members wages had "deteriorated" due to a deal made between Superquinn and other unions. According to Mr Carr, skilled butchers working for Superquinn now earned less than their less-qualified colleagues.
He said Superquinn had refused to comply with a recommendation by the Labour Court where the company was called on to sit down with the union and address its members' claim along with "similar and appropriate flexibility measures".
He said he was left with no alternative but to ballot his members and to take industrial action.
Superquinn managing director Mr Feargal Quinn said the issue was one of flexibility and that the butchers effectively wanted agreement on a pay claim before negotiating changes to work practices.
Superquinn offered the butchers an €800 interim payment last week - which was rejected. Mr Quinn said he had no problem paying more money but not if the company could not then provide a service his customers could get everywhere else in Ireland.
