{{Short description|Irish anti-apartheid strike (1984–87)}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} Workers at a Dunnes Stores shop in Ireland staged a three-year strike against apartheid in South Africa between 1984 and 1987, which eventually led to the Irish Government banning the importation of South African goods into Ireland. Mary Manning, as instructed by her trade union, was the first to refuse to handle the fruit.
== Strike == On 19 July 1984, Mary Manning, a 21-year-old shop worker in the Henry Street, Dublin outlet of Dunnes Stores, refused to handle the sale of grapefruit from South Africa. Her union, the Irish Distributive and Administrative Trade Union (IDATU), had issued directions to its members not to handle South African produce in protest against the country's apartheid policies. When Manning and shop steward Karen Gearon continued to refuse to handle the produce, they were suspended and went on strike alongside other union members from a different store: Liz Deasy, Michelle Gavin, Vonnie Munroe, Alma Russell, Tommy Davis, Sandra Griffin, Theresa Mooney, Cathryn O'Reilly, and Brendan Barron.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Ryle |last=Dwyer |url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/state-archives-dunnes-stores-strike-demonstrated-power-of-the-few-373917.html|title=State archives: Dunnes Stores strike demonstrated power of the few|date=January 1, 2016 |newspaper=Irish Examiner |access-date=2017-08-26 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Waldron |first=Clarissa |date=2015-05-19 |title=Proud moment as Dunnes Stores apartheid strikers honoured |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/herald/proud-moment-as-dunnes-stores-apartheid-strikers-honoured/31232904.html |access-date=2026-01-22 |website=Irish Independent |language=en}}</ref><!-- Not a reliable source by itself. Feel free to link an article that includes it: <ref>{{cite web|url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DifzKXSX4AEamc0.jpg|title=Photo of plaque "In honour of those who took park in the Shop Workers Strike Against Apartheid"}}</ref>{{Verification needed|date=December 2025}}-->
While the strike lasted, the strikers got only £21 a week strike pay.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/union-official-and-organising-force-behind-dunnes-stores-strike-1.2039904|title=Union official and organising force behind Dunnes Stores strike |type= |work=Irish Times |first=Brendan |last=Archbold |date=6 December 2014}}</ref> At first, they received support from few individuals and groups, such as South African labour leader Nimrod Sejake, but they were encouraged when the South African archbishop Desmond Tutu met with the strikers on his way to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo and invited them to visit South Africa. Eight of the strikers travelled there in 1985 but were not permitted to enter the country. Their deportation received extensive news coverage in Ireland.<ref name=":2" />
The strike lasted until April 1987 when the Irish Government banned the importation of South African goods. The ban came about as a result of public pressure in support of the strikers and was the first complete ban of South African imports by a Western government.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/workers-blood-fruit-fight-recalled-in-film-30409554.html|title=Workers' 'Blood Fruit' fight recalled in film |first=Jerome |last=Reilly |date=July 5, 2014 |newspaper=Irish Independent |access-date=2017-08-26|language=en}}</ref>
==Recognition and legacy == Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Sean MacBride attended at least one of the strikes in May 1985.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-02-21|title=Seá¡n MacBride and Namibia|url=https://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/sean-macbride-and-namibia/|access-date=2021-05-30|website=History Ireland}}</ref>
The workers eventually met future president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela when he received the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 1990.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news| url=http://www.thejournal.ie/dunnes-stores-strikers-nelson-mandela-funeral-1211393-Dec2013/ | title=Dunnes Stores strikers to attend Nelson Mandela's funeral | last=Bohan | first=Christine|date=December 7, 2013 | work=TheJournal.ie | access-date=26 August 2017 }}</ref> Mandela said that the strikers demonstrated to South Africans that "ordinary people far away from the crucible of apartheid cared for our freedom"<ref name=":1" /> and helped him keep going when he was in prison.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/30-years-dunnes-stores-strike-1579724-Jul2014/ |date=July 19, 2014 |title=This day 30 years ago the Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strike began|last=Hennessy|first=Michelle|work=TheJournal.ie|access-date=2017-08-26}}</ref>
A plaque commemorating the action, presented by South African President Thabo Mbeki, was unveiled on Henry Street in Dublin in June 2008, and a street has been named after Mary Manning in Johannesburg.<ref name=":0" /> Some of the strikers attended the funeral of Nelson Mandela in 2013.<ref name=":0" />
Ewan MacColl wrote a song about the strike, titled "Ten young women and one young man", for a concert in Dublin.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harker|first1=Ben|title=Class Act: The Cultural and Political Life of Ewan MacColl|url=https://archive.org/details/classactcultural00hark|url-access=limited|date=2007|publisher=Pluto Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/classactcultural00hark/page/n256 247]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Ten Young Women And One Young Man|url=http://unionsong.com/u094.html|website=Union Songs|accessdate=10 April 2018}}</ref> Christy Moore sings the song "Dunnes Stores", written by Sandra Kerr, about the strike.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Moore|first1=Christy|title=The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring Tra-La ...|url=https://www.christymoore.com/christy-chat/the-flowers-that-bloom-in-the-spring-tra-la/|website=Christy Moore|date=3 May 2013 |accessdate=10 April 2018}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=December 6, 2013 |first=Rosita |last=Boland |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/how-11-striking-irish-workers-helped-to-fight-apartheid-1.1618635|title=How 11 striking Irish workers helped to fight apartheid|newspaper=The Irish Times |access-date=2017-08-26}}</ref> The UK pop group Latin Quarter dedicated their 1989 album ''Swimming Against the Stream'' to the 11 workers.<ref>{{cite web | title=Latin Quarter - Swimming Against the Stream | website=Discogs | date=1989 | url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1119787-Latin-Quarter-Swimming-Against-The-Stream?srsltid=AfmBOopH7x097RoqMF8RGiMJlFxSECrSY4lsczDOcPvng9SUcPhKwTow }}</ref>
In 2014, a documentary about the strike, ''Blood Fruit'', was released.<ref name=":1" />
A play called ''Strike!'' by Tracy Ryan ran at the Southwark Playhouse in the spring of 2023.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Akbar |first=Arifa |date=18 April 2023 |title=Strike! review – Dublin shop-workers stage an anti-apartheid protest |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/18/strike-review-dublin-shop-workers-anti-apartheid-protest-southwark-playhouse-london |access-date=9 October 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
== See also == *List of strikes in Ireland
==References== {{reflist}}
== Further reading == * Manning, Mary; O'Brien, Sinéad (2017). ''Striking Back: The Untold Story of an Anti-Apartheid Striker''. Collins Press. {{ISBN|978-1-84-889324-5}}.
Category:1984 labor disputes and strikes Category:1984 in Ireland Category:1980s in Dublin (city) Category:Boycotts of apartheid South Africa Category:Labour disputes in Ireland Category:Nelson Mandela Category:Ireland–South Africa relations