Employees working at Shaws department stores which operates 16 outlets around the country, have today voted for strike action.
The move follows the planned introduction of cost-saving measures by the company which trade union Mandate claims weren't agreed to by staff.
Mandate claims that Shaws is still profitable and has accused them of using the recession as a means to reduce the living standards of their workers in the pursuit of unattainable levels of profit.
Approximately 87 per cent of staff at the retailer voted in favour of the action. The company, which was founded in 1864, employs over 1,000 people in Ireland.
In a statement, the retailer denied it had attempted to introduce any measures without prior consultations with employees. It called Mandate's decision to ballot employees for strike action as "extremely regrettable and difficult to understand."
The company said that the general decline in the economy and consumer spending in particular, had been impacting on its business since autumn 2007 and that the decline in sales had accelerated dramatically this year.
Shaws' said it had been working to cut costs at all levels of the business and that this included measures introducing a salary freeze and redundancy programmed for management together with an overtime ban for staff, a change in working hours and the loss of 40, mainly part-time jobs.
It insisted that it had given a commitment in writing not to proceed with any changes pending the holding of a conciliation conference under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) and said that this remained the company's position.
Shaws operates 16 stores around the country in Athy, Ballina, Carlow, Castlebar, Drogheda, Dungarvan, Dun Laoghaire, Fermoy, Limerick, Mountmellick, Portlaoise, Roscrea, Tralee, Waterford and Wexford.