Patricia King is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

trade unionist 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 Employee ben ...

. Born in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

, King worked as a trade union organiser for many years before being appointed as the

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 ...

organiser of

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) in 2004. In this role, she was centrally involved in a major dispute involving workers at

Irish Ferries Irish Ferries is an Irish ferry and transport company that operates passenger and freight services on routes between Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, including Dublin Port–Holyhead; Rosslare Europort to Pembroke as well as Dublin Po ...

in 2006 and 2007. In 2010, King was elected as vice-president of SIPTU, the most prominent post held by a woman in the union to that point. She also served on the RTÉ Authority, the

National Roads Authority The National Roads Authority (NRA) ( ga, An tÚdarás um Bóithre Náisiúnta) was a state body in Ireland, responsible for the national road network. The NRA was established as part of the Roads Act 1993 and commenced operations on 23 December ...

, the

Dublin Airport Authority DAA (styled "daa"), previously Dublin Airport Authority, is a commercial semi-state airport company in Ireland. The company owns and operates Dublin Airport and Cork Airport. Its other subsidiaries include the travel retail business Aer Rianta ...

and the Apprenticeship Council. She was involved in the creation of the National Employment Rights Authority, and was a lead negotiator for the

Croke Park Agreement The Croke Park Agreement, formally known as the "Public Service Agreement 2010-2014", is an agreement between the Irish government and various public sector unions and representative organisations. It is named after Croke Park, a large sporting ar ...

.Martin Wall,
Patricia King to be the new head of Ictu
, ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', 21 January 2015

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 ...

,
CONGRESS NAMES PATRICIA KING AS GENERAL SECRETARY DESIGNATE
, 21 January 2015 She was also elected as joint vice-president of the

(ICTU). King was elected as general secretary of the ICTU in 2015, the first woman to hold the post. She had been considered the front-runner for the role. ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' described her at the time as "very pragmatic" and "not really of the political left".Gerald Flynn,
Siptu bigwig King set to lead Ictu
, ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', 18 January 2015

References

Irish trade unionists People from County Wicklow Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{Ireland-bio-stub