SIPTU

SIPTU
Full name Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union
Native name An Ceardchumann Seirbhísí, Tionsclaíoch, Gairmiúil agus Teicniúil
Founded 1990
Members 206,881[1]
Affiliation ICTU, Labour Party
Key people Jack O'Connor, general president
Joe O'Flynn, general secretary
Patricia King, vice president
Office location Dublin, Ireland
Country Ireland
Website www.siptu.ie

SIPTU (Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union; Irish: An Ceardchumann Seirbhísí, Tionsclaíoch, Gairmiúil agus Teicniúil) is Ireland's largest trade union, with around 200,000 members. Most of these members are in the Republic of Ireland, although the union does have a Northern Ireland branch. Its head office, Liberty Hall, is in Dublin, and regional headquarters are located in Kilkenny, Galway, Cork and Monaghan. SIPTU is affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and to the Irish Labour Party.

The union was formed in 1990 with the merger of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union and the Federated Workers' Union of Ireland. The merger was first proposed in the 1950s, and almost happened in 1969.

SIPTU is a general union which organises across the public and private sectors in Ireland and has large numbers of members working in construction, health, education, transport and manufacturing. It has a longterm commitment to delivering a 'Social Solidarity Service' and has developed a leadership role in the areas of rights for unemployed persons, people with disabilities and older persons. In recent years the union, as part of its ideal in promoting 'Fairness at Work and Justice in Society' includes the organisation of migrant workers in Ireland and in campaigning on the twin issues of the exploitation of migrant workers, particularly those from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, and the consequent displacement of Irish workers from employment.

The union established an Organising Unit in 2004 and its president, Jack O'Connor, set as his objective the transformation of SIPTU - hitherto firmly committed to a servicing agenda - into an organising union.[2] It remains to be seen how (and whether) a commitment to the organising model of trade unionism can be reconciled with the union's traditional support for national 'Social Partnership'.

Mergers

Since its formation, several smaller unions have merged into SIPTU:[2]

1991: Irish National Painters' and Decorators' Trade Union
1993: Irish Writers' Union
1997: Automobile, General Engineering and Mechanical Operatives' Union
1998: Irish Print Union, Marine, Port and General Workers' Union, Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland
2002: Musicians' Union of Ireland

Leadership

General Secretaries

1990: Christy Kirwan and ?
1994: Bill Attley
1998: John McDonnell
2002: Joe O'Flynn

General Presidents

1990: Bill Attley and Edmund Browne
1994: Edmund Browne
1997: Jimmy Somers
1999: Des Geraghty
2003: Jack O'Connor

Vice Presidents

1994: Jimmy Somers
1997: Des Geraghty
2000: Jack O'Connor
2003: Brendan Hayes
2010: Patricia King
2015: Gene Mealy

See also

References

  1. ↑ Unions Affiliated to Congress 2010, ICTU
  2. 1 2 Arthur Marsh and John B. Smethurst, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.5, pp.440-441
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.