Irish Congress of Trade Unions

There are currently 55 trade unions with membership of Congress, representing about 600,000 members in the Republic of Ireland.[1] Trade union members represent 35.1% of the Republic's workforce.[2] This is a significant decline since the 55.3% recorded in 1980 and the 38.5% reported in 2003.[3] In the Republic, roughly 50% of union members are in the public sector. The ICTU represents trade unions in negotiations with employers and the government with regard to pay and working conditions

The supreme policy-making body of Congress is the Biennial Delegate Conference, to which affiliated unions send delegates. On a day-to-day basis Congress is run by an Executive Committee and a staffed secretariat headed up by the general secretary, Patricia King who succeeded David Begg in the position in 2015.

John Douglas of Mandate became President of Congress at the biennial conference in Belfast in July 2013 succeeding Eugene McGlone of Unite. The president serves for a two-year period and is succeeded by one of two vice-presidents.

Congress is the sole Irish affiliate of the ETUC, the representative body for trade unions at European level and of the International Trade Union Confederation ITUC

Congress enjoyed unprecedented political and economic influence over the period from 1987 to 2009 under the umbrella of Ireland's social partnership arrangements. This involved a series of seven corporatist agreements with the government and the main manufacturing/services employer body IBEC and the construction employers' lobby, CIF (Construction Industry Federation). It was a classic European-style alliance of government, labour and capital built on six decades of voluntary employment relations regulated by state institutions such as the Labour Court.

For many years the union leaders agreed to dampen pay rises in return for regular reductions in income tax rates. They also negotiated a new system of pay determination for public service employees under the rubric of "benchmarking" using external assessment of pay scales for assorted grades.

The era of Christian democratic style corporatism also saw a dramatic fall in trade union density from 62% in 1980 to 31% in 2007 and consolidation through mergers of many affiliated trade unions.[4] Efforts to launch recruitment and organising initiatives failed to secure adequate support from affiliated unions while attempts to secure indirect forms of union recognition through legislation collapsed after successful legal challenges and appeals by the anti-union Ryanair company.

Ireland's period of centralised 'social pacts' ended in late 2009 when the government imposed pay cuts of between 5% and 8% on public service employees. The joint-stewardship of the state's FÁS training and employment authority by Congress and IBEC and accompanied waste of public and EU funds and excessive spending on directors 'junkets' further weakened the public standing of Congress and its 'social partnership' structures.

In an assessment of the post-partnership situation, Congress general secretary David Begg prepared a strategic review paper in which he identified the increasing weakness of the Congress and individual trade unions being due to "recession and change in the balance of power with capital" as well as job cuts, poor organisation, especially in high-technology companies, and a growing rift between public and private sector employees.[5]

On a more positive note Begg asserted that the ending of social partnership arrangements "liberates us to advocate and campaign for our own policies".[6]

A "mass rally", organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Amnesty International, and the Rainbow Project in support of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland[7] took place on 13 June 2015 in Belfast, with a 20,000 person turnout.[8]

• Association of First Division Civil Servants[9]
• Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants[9]
• Association of Irish Traditional Musicians[10]
• Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland[11]
• Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union[12]
• British Actors Equity Association[10]
• Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union[10]
• Building and Allied Trades' Union[13]
• Chartered Society of Physiotherapy[10]
• Communication Workers Union (Ireland)[14]
• Communication Workers Union (UK)[14]
• Connect Trade Union
• Energy Services Union[15]
• Fire Brigades Union[9]
• Fórsa
• GMB Union[16]
• Guinness Staff Union[12]
• Irish Bank Officials' Association[15]
• Irish Federation of University Teachers[11]
• Irish Medical Organisation[15]
• Irish National Teachers Organisation[11]
• Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation[15]
• MANDATE[17]
• Medical Laboratory Scientists Association[15]
• National Union of Journalists[15]
• National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers[11]
• Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance[9]
• National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers[17]
• Operative Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland[13]
• Prison Officers' Association (Ireland)[9]
• Prospect[15]
• Public and Commercial Services Union[9]
• SIPTU (Services Industrial Professional Technical Union)[16]
• Teachers' Union of Ireland[11]
• Technical Engineering and Electrical Union[13]
• Transport Salaried Staffs Association[17]
• Ulster Teachers' Union[11]
• Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers[17]
• Unison[9]
• Unite the Union[16]
• University and College Union[11]
• Veterinary Ireland[15]
• Veterinary Officers Association[15]

1959: James Larkin Jnr

1960: Leo Crawford and Ruaidhri Roberts

1967: Ruaidhri Roberts

1982: Donal Nevin

1989: Peter Cassells

2001: David Begg

2015: Patricia King

Reference:

1959: Walter Beirne

1960: John Conroy

1967: Fintan Kennedy

1982: Patrick Clancy

1985: Christy Kirwan

1989: Edmund Browne

1995: Bill Attley

1999: Jimmy Somers

2001: John McDonnell

2003: Joe O'Flynn

• List of trade unions
• List of federations of trade unions
• Trades Union Congress
• General Federation of Trade Unions (UK)
• Scottish Trades Union Congress

• Official website
• Congress – Northern Ireland Committee