The Socialist 16 September 2020

Our lives and livelihoods at stake

Our lives and livelihoods at stake

Sketch: The rule of six - some guidance from your government

Johnson's brinkmanship over EU deal deepens capitalist splits

Blame politicians, not workers and young people

Capitalist profit and the race to develop a vaccine

'Covid marshalls' must be accountable to communities

Under the microscope

Angry health workers demand 15% now!

NHS workers: "We deserve a fair wage" - 15% now!

National Shop Stewards Network lobbying for a lead from the TUC

PCS members in DWP reject unsafe extension of hours

Ireland: Debenham's occupier speaks out

London bus drivers begin strike ballot over remote sign-on dispute

Tate workers on indefinite strike hold march and rally

Reinstate Tony Smith

Reinstate Richie Venton

Dispatches from the front: schools need Covid tests!

Covid and the third sector: for public planning, not charity stopgaps

Non-fiction: Left Out - the inside story of Labour under Corbyn

Egypt: Support for al-Sisi dwindles as his regime increases repression

Nigerian police repress peaceful anti-government protest

Two weeks to donate: we need your help

Coventry: scrap 'profit before people' hospital parking charges

Covid generation says 'fund our future'

Why I joined the Socialist Party: Tories and Blairites only care about corporate greed

Selling the Socialist

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Ireland: Debenham's occupier speaks out

Debenham's workers occupy Dublin store September 2020 (Click to enlarge)

Seán Powney, Debenhams worker

Three Debenham's strikers, shop steward, Jane Crowe, Doreen Keegan, and myself, were arrested along with members of Militant Left (CWI Ireland) and other left organisations in Dublin on 8 September, following an occupation of the Debenham's flagship store.

We were arrested, held in individual cells, and then released. Our union, Mandate, expressed its sympathy and understanding for the action, which is welcome. Other strikers gathered outside the Garda (police) station until we were released. We then held a rally and marched to the Dáil (Irish parliament building) to demand justice for Debenham's workers.

The occupations are the latest step in a struggle that has been going on for over 150 days. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in Ireland, while most shops on the high street closed, Debenham's stores around the country remained open.

We continued to work with little or no PPE and in unsafe conditions until the store finally shut for what we were promised would be a short time. A few weeks later, I and 954 of my colleagues received an email to say we no longer had a job and that Debenham's would be leaving Ireland...