Congress of Irish Unions

History

Congress was one of the two governing bodies that emerged after the split in the Irish trade union body the Irish Trade Union Congress 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 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. Both organisations amalgamated in 1959, becoming the Irish Congress of Trade Unions .

Secretaries

Presidents

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