The Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU), was a

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 ( ...

representing workers, initially mainly

labourer A laborer (or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor types in the construction industry workforce. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which their only possession of significant material value is their labor. Industries e ...

s, in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

History

The union was founded by

James Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...

in January 1909 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

-based

National Union of Dock Labourers The National Union of Dock Labourers (NUDL) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1889 and 1922. History It was formed in Glasgow in 1889 but moved its headquarters to Liverpool within a few years and was thereafter ...

, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a range of industries. The ITGWU logo was the

Red Hand of Ulster The Red Hand of Ulster ( gle, Lámh Dhearg Uladh), also known as the Red Hand Uí Néill, is a symbol used in heraldry to denote the Irish province of Ulster and the Northern Uí Néill in particular. However, it has also been used by other I ...

, which is synonymous with ancient

Gael The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languag ...

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

. The ITGWU was at the centre of the syndicalist-inspired

Dublin Lockout The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Ireland's capital and largest city, Dublin. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often vi ...

in 1913, the events of which left a lasting impression on the union and hence on the Irish

Labour Movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

. After Larkin's departure for the United States in 1914 in the wake of the Lockout,

James Connolly James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...

led the ITGWU until his execution in 1916 in the wake of the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...

. In turn,

William O'Brien William O'Brien (2 October 1852 – 25 February 1928) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of ...

became the union's leading figure, and ultimately served as general secretary for many years. Throughout World War I, the ITGWU consistently opposed Irish belligerence, and staunchly supported the advanced nationalist cause. In fact, ITGWU members, in the uniform of the Irish Citizen Army, played a leading role in the Easter Rising, while the Transport Union led a national strike that crippled an attempt to introduce conscription to Ireland in 1918. In 1923, Larkin formed a new union, the

Workers' Union of Ireland The Workers' Union of Ireland (WUI), later the Federated Workers' Union of Ireland, was an Irish trade union formed in 1924. In 1990, it merged with the Irish Transport and General Workers Union to form the Services, Industrial, Professional and ...

, to which many of the ITGWU's

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

members affiliated. The ITGWU nevertheless remained the dominant force in Irish

trade unionism 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 (su ...

, especially outside the capital. William O'Brien and James Larkin remained bitter personal enemies, and when Larkin and his supporters were readmitted into the Labour Party in the early 1940s, O'Brien engineered a split in the party, with the new National Labour Party claiming that the main party had been infiltrated by

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

s. A further split occurred in 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 ...

when that body accepted the WUI's membership in 1945. The ITGWU left the Congress and established the rival

Congress of Irish Unions The Congress of Irish Unions was a confederation of trade unions 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 in 1945. The split develo ...

. From the 1950s on proposals to merge the two unions were floated. Finally, in 1990, the ITGWU merged with the Workers' Union of Ireland to form

SIPTU SIPTU (; ''Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union''; ga, 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 Rep ...

(Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union). The ITGWU should not be confused with the British-based

Transport and General Workers Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

, which organised in Ireland under the name ''Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union'' (ATGWU) and is now

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (afte ...

Mergers

The union absorbed numerous smaller trade unions:Arthur Marsh and John B. Smethurst, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', vol.5, pp.465–467 :1914: Dublin Coal Factors' Association :1915: Kilkenny Brewery Labourers' Trade Union :1917: Irish Glass Bottle Makers' Society, Rathmines and District Workers' Union :1919: Brewery Workers' Association (Cork), Carpet Planners of the City of Dublin, Dublin Saddlers and Harness Makers' Trade Society, Irish Land and Labour Association, Irish National Agricultural and General Workers' Union, Mullingar Trade and Labour Union, Queenstown and District Government Labourers' Union :1920: United Building Labourers and General Workers of Dublin Trade Union :1921: Amalgamated Society of Pork Butchers (Limerick and Waterford) :1922: Meath Labour Union :1923: Irish Automobile Drivers' Society :1925:

Irish Mental Hospital Workers' Union The Irish Mental Hospital Workers' Union was a trade union in Ireland. It was formed in 1912 as a split from the National Asylum Workers' Union, and it merged with the Transport and General Workers' Union in 1926. History The Irish Mental Hospita ...

:1938: Dublin Coal Factors' Association, Dublin United Tramway and Omnibus Inspectors' Association :1941: Limerick Corporation Employees' Union :1943: Tipperary Workingmen's Protective and Benefit Society :1950: Cumann Teicneori Innealoireachta :1953: Clothing Workers' Union (Derry) :1976:

National Union of Gold, Silver and Allied Trades {{Infobox union , name = NUGSAT , location_country= United Kingdom, Ireland , affiliation = TUC, Labour{{cite book, last1=Eaton, first1=Jack, last2=Gill, first2=Colin, title=The Trade Union Directory, date=1981, publisher=Pluto Press, ...

(Irish branches) :1977:

Irish Shoe and Leather Workers' Union The Irish Shoe and Leather Workers' Union (ISLWU) was a trade union representing workers involved in shoemaking in Ireland. The union was founded on 1 January 1953, as a split from the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives (NUBSO), which was b ...

:1979:

Irish Actors' Equity Association The Irish Actors' Equity Association (IAEA) was a trade union representing actors and workers in related fields in Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is ...

:1981: Irish Racecourse Bookmakers' Assistants' Association :1982: Irish Federation of Musicians and Associated Professionals (later split)

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1909:

:1924:

:1946:

Tom Kennedy Thomas or Tom Kennedy may refer to: Politics *Thomas Kennedy (Scottish judge) (1673–1754), joint Solicitor General for Scotland 1709–14, Lord Advocate 1714, Member of Parliament for Ayr Burghs 1720–21 * Thomas Kennedy, 9th Earl of Cassilis ...

:1948: Frank Purcell :1959: Fintan Kennedy :1969:

Michael Mullen Michael Glenn Mullen (born October 4, 1946) is a retired United States Navy admiral, who served as the 17th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1, 2007, to September 30, 2011. Mullen previously served as the Navy's 28th chief of ...

:1983: Christy Kirwan

General presidents

:1909: Thomas Foran :1939:

:1946: William McMullen :1953:

John Conroy Sir John Ponsonby Conroy, 1st Baronet, KCH (21 October 1786 – 2 March 1854) was a British Army officer who served as comptroller to the Duchess of Kent and her young daughter, Princess Victoria, the future Queen of the United Kingdom. Con ...

:1969: Fintan Kennedy :1981:

John Carroll John Carroll may refer to: People Academia and science *Sir John Carroll (astronomer) (1899–1974), British astronomer *John Alexander Carroll (died 2000), American history professor *John Bissell Carroll (1916–2003), American cognitive sci ...

Vice-Presidents

:1924:

:1940: William McMullen :1947:

:1953: Edward Browne :1969:

:1981: Tom O'Brien :1982: Christy Kirwan :1983:

Edmund Browne Edmund Browne (born 1937) is an Irish former trade unionist. Browne became active in the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU), and was elected as Vice President in 1983, defeating Des Geraghty by a margin which surprised his supp ...

:2022: Sigurd Fruergaard

References

{{Authority control Defunct trade unions of Ireland Road transport trade unions 1908 establishments in Ireland Trade unions established in 1909 Trade unions disestablished in 1990 Transport trade unions in Ireland 1990 disestablishments in Ireland