Witness History12 Jun 2024

The Irish shopworkers strike against apartheid

In 1984, a 21-year-old Irish shopworker refused to serve a customer buying two South African grapefruits. Mary Manning was suspended from the Dunnes store in Dublin, and ten of her colleagues walked out alongside her in protest.

It was the start of a strike that lasted almost three years, and ended when Ireland became the first western country to impose a complete ban of South African imports.

Why did Mary do it? In 1984, she and her colleagues were part of the Irish workers’ union, IDATU, which had told its members not to sell items from South Africa.

At the time the 11 strikers knew little about apartheid – South Africa’s system of racial segregation - but they soon learnt.

Their protest would lead to them addressing the United Nations, winning praise from Bishop Desmond Tutu, and meeting with Nelson Mandela.

Mary tells Jane Wilkinson about what drove the strikers to continue despite little initial support.

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(Photo: Strikers outside Dunnes store in Dublin in 1985. Credit: Derek Speirs)

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