500 people attended Ireland’s first online rally to support workers from Debenhams, who are fighting for fair redundancy payments.
Digital campaigning community Uplift and trade union Mandate partnered to organise the rally, which was attended by Debenhams workers, hundreds of Uplift members and politicians including Michael Martin, Mary Lou McDonald and Richard Boyd Barrett.
Uplift Director Siobhan O’Donoghue says: “It was an amazing show of solidarity for the people who were fired by Debenhams during a pandemic, who are now being denied their redundancy payment.”
“It’s more important now than ever that we exercise our democratic rights. And in a time where we can’t get out on the streets to protest, an online rally lets people stand up for what they believe in. If Debenhams bosses think they can get away with dodgy behaviour because we can’t meet in person, they are sadly mistaken”
Almost 20,000 people signed the petition, which was sent to Debenhams bosses live on the call.
Debenhams laid off 2,000 people including staff from their store in Tallaght during the COVID-19 pandemic, and are now resisting fair redundancy payments and using Covid-19 as an excuse to avoid negotiations.
