Organise! members in the north-west recently held two one day protests against deaths in the construction industry at the new Debenham’s store in Derry. The protests and leafleting began on the first opening Saturday of the multi-million pound Debenham’s extension to Foyleside Shopping Centre, and another was held on the 1st anniversary of the death of the second of two workers killed on the site in January. A recent inquiry into the death of Charles O’Connell (killed in a fall on 3 September 2002), decided no file would be sent to the DPP and no prosecutions would result from the incident. Bosses on site when Charles fell docked his workmates a half-day’s pay for walking off the site and going to the hospital to find out about their critically injured comrade.

Leaflets titled ‘Dying for Debenham’s’ at the protest highlighted Charles and John Baines’ deaths and the casualisation and sub-contracting which allows this to continue while profits soar. These men were risking their lives for a couple of hundred pounds while the head of Debenham’s, Belinda Earl, earns in the region of £800,000 a year. Organise! members in the north-west are pledged to maintaining this protest for the foreseeable future.