The Congress of Irish Unions was a confederation of

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s in Ireland.

History

Congress was one of the two governing bodies that emerged after the split in the Irish trade union body the

Irish Trades Union Congress The Irish Trades Union Congress (ITUC) was a union federation covering the island of Ireland. History Until 1894, representatives of Irish trade unions attended the British Trades Union Congress (TUC). However, many felt that they had little im ...

in 1945. The split developed under pressure from an anticipated fresh labour-state relationship, and alleged 'British domination in ITUC'. The CIU consisted entirely of Irish-based unions, and retained 77,500 workers, including the members of the

Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU), was a trade union representing workers, initially mainly labourers, in Ireland. History The union was founded by James Larkin in January 1909 as a general union. Initially drawing its memb ...

. The aim of the CIU was to create a trade union movement in Ireland which was Irish-based and nationalistic in outlook, in contrast to the more internationalist and socialist ITUC which had 146,000 members. The Government, contrary to expectation, did not legislate against the British unions, and from 1953 encouraged a détente between the two factions. The confederations amalgamated in 1959, becoming the

Irish Congress of Trade Unions The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (often abbreviated to just Congress or ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is a national trade union centr ...

Affiliates

On formation, the following unions affiliated to the Congress:Fergus A. D'Arcy and Ken Hannigan, ''Workers in Union'', p.212 : Building Workers' Trade Union : Dublin Typographical Provident Society :

Electrical Trades Union (Ireland) {{Infobox union , name = Electrical Trades Union , native_name = , native_name_lang= , image = , founded = 1923 , predecessor = Irish Engineering Industrial Union , dissolved = 2001 , merged = Technical Engi ...

:Electrotypers' and Stereotypers' Society : Irish Bookbinders' and Allied Trades Union :

Irish Engineering Industrial Union The National Engineering and Electrical Trade Union (NEETU) was a trade union representing engineering workers in Ireland. The union was formed in 1920 as the Irish Engineering Industrial Union. Its first couple of years were turbulent, with the ...

: Irish National Union of Vintners', Grocers' and Allied Trade Assistants : Irish Seamen and Port Workers' Union :Irish Society of Woodcutting Machinists :

: Irish Union of Distributive Workers and Clerks : Operative Plasterers' Trade Society :United Ship and House Painters' and Decorators' Trade Union By 1954, the following unions held membership:

Secretaries

:1945:

Cathal O'Shannon Cathal O'Shannon (9 June 1890 – 4 October 1969) was an Irish politician, trade unionist and journalist. Early years Charles Francis Shannon was born in Randalstown, County Antrim, he was the third child of Charles and Alice Shannon. As a chi ...

:1946: Leo Crawford

Presidents

Source: Donal Nevin et al., ''Trade Union Century'', pp. 438–439

References

Sources

From the EMIRE database, which is the online version of the European Employment and Industrial Relations Glossaries
1945 establishments in Ireland 1959 disestablishments in Ireland National trade union centres of Ireland Trade unions established in 1945 Trade unions disestablished in 1959 {{Ireland-org-stub