2009-09-27 Ireland Dublin Mandate Trade Union 079a

Mandate is 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 retail, administrative and distributive workers 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 ...

. The union was founded in 1994, when the

Irish Distributive and Administrative Trade Union The Irish Distributive and Administrative Union (IDATU) was a trade union representing workers in Ireland. The union was founded in 1901 as the Irish Drapers' Assistants' Association by Michael O'Lehane. O'Lehane had been working at Cannocks in ...

merged with the

Irish National Union of Vintners', Grocers' and Allied Trades Assistants The Irish National Union of Vintners', Grocers' and Allied Trades Assistants (INUVGATA), also known as the Barmen's Union, was a trade union representing retail and bar staff, principally in Ireland. The union originated in 1863 in Dublin as the Gr ...

.Arthur Marsh, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', vol.5, pp.119-120 The merger was criticised by some members because the word "union" was not contained in the title. Later, the union was renamed "Mandate Trade Union". On formation, the union had 22,000 members, and this grew to 40,000 by 2005. Due to the turnover of staff in retail, at the time, it was recruiting around 16,000 members per year in order to maintain this level of total membership. A new logo was designed in 2009. In 2020 and 2021, Mandate members at

Debenhams Ireland Debenhams Ireland was a national chain of department stores in Ireland, that was owned ultimately by Debenhams plc. It was largely based on the former Roches Store chain, though after that business divested its grocery units. History Roches S ...

took part in a lengthy industrial dispute with their former employer, campaigning for four weeks' redundancy pay per year of service as had been agreed under a 2016 collective agreement.

General Secretaries

:1994: Owen Nulty :2005: John Douglas :2020: Gerry Light

References

External links

Mandate Trade Union
Trade unions in the Republic of Ireland Retail trade unions 1994 establishments in Ireland Trade unions established in 1994 {{Europe-trade-union-stub