The Irish Bookbinders' and Allied Trades Union ({{langx, ga, Cumann Ceirde Cluduigte Leabar Agus a Com-Ceard i n-Eirinn) was a
trade union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
representing print workers in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
.
The union was founded in 1920 as the Irish Bookbinders' and Paper Rulers' Trade Union, by
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
-based members of the UK-based
National Union of Bookbinders and Machine Rulers. It became the "Irish Bookbinders' and Allied Trades Union" in 1938. From 1941, the Irish government required unions to obtain a license, and the National Union thereafter withdrew from Ireland, the Irish Bookbinders thereafter recruiting throughout the country; by the 1950, it had around 1,000 members.
[Arthur Marsh and John B. Smethurst, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', vol.5, p.85]
Originally part of 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 i ...
, the union was a founding member of the rival
Congress of Irish Unions. The two confederations later merged to form 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 cent ...
, of which the union maintained membership.
[Fergus A. D'Arcy and Ken Hannigan, ''Workers in Union'', p.212]
In 1983, the union merged with the
Irish Graphical Society and the Electrotypers' and Stereotypers' Society of Dublin and District to form the
Irish Print Union.
General Secretaries
:1920:
Michael Colgan
:1953: Terence Farrell
:1960s: J. Cullen
References
Defunct trade unions of Ireland
Trade unions established in 1920
Trade unions disestablished in 1983
1920 establishments in Ireland
1983 disestablishments in Ireland
Bookbinders' trade unions