A group of Dunnes Stores workers will deliver a giant Christmas card to the head office of the company later with a message on improving working conditions.

The card will be signed by a significant portion of staff members, calling on the company to provide them with secure hours and fair pay.

The Mandate trade union will also release results of a worker survey addressing the issues in the dispute.

The union says the card will contain a strong message for senior management calling on them to provide secure hours and earnings, job security, fair pay and the right to trade union representation.

Mandate say Dunnes is disregarding a Labour Court recommendation from November 14th, which said a meeting between Mandate and Dunnes should take place within a period of four weeks.

The union says this is the fourth time in as many years the company has displayed a dismissive attitude to the findings of the Labour Court and in doing so shows "an entirely disrespectful attitude to its own workforce."

Sarah Browne, who is a Dunnes worker from Dublin, said: "I'm deeply disappointed that Dunnes management continue to reject the efforts of our union and now the Labour Court to resolve our concerns."

"Insecurity over working hours is a major issue for almost all Dunnes staff and we need that addressed immediately. It leaves me and thousands of my fellow co-workers no other option than to now consider taking more serious action to have our concerns addressed," she added.

Assistant general-secretary of Mandate, Gerry Light, says management are refusing to engage with them.