The Workers' Party will hold a protest outside Belfast's main Primark store in Castle Place on Friday (Mar
16) at 1.00pm in solidarity with members of the USDAW trade union who are on strike at the company's Northern Ireland
outlets. The company trades in the Republic of Ireland as Penney's.
Workers Party General Secretary and Belfast chairman John Lowry called on party members and supporters to
come out in full suport of the workers at tomorrow's protest. The company's workers have had their pay frozen for the
past three years and are being forced to accept changes which will worsen their working conditions and terms of employment.
Primark / Penney's is owned by a company called Associated British Foods which is enjoying record
profits and is one of the top ten companies on the Financial Times FTSE 100 list. The company's major shareholders are
Galen Weston and his family, who are listed as the second wealtiest in Canada and 133rd richest in the world.
The company was able to pay its shareholders significantly enhanced dividends last year and made pre-tax
profits of around £900 million in 2011.
