Ireland's largest union elects a bridge-builder

In September 1997, the 200,000 members of SIPTU, Ireland's largest trade union, elected a new vice-president. The former MEP, Des Geraghty, was well ahead of his closest opponent, the Socialist Workers Party activist, Carolann Duggan.

On 16 September 1997, members of the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union (SIPTU), Ireland's largest trade union, elected as their new vice-president, Des Geraghty, a former Member of the European Parliament and a member of Ireland's small but influential Democratic Left (DL) Party. DL was one of three parties which made up the former "rainbow" coalition Government which lost power in June 1997.

Mr Geraghty, who polled just over 50% of the 102, 967 votes cast, defeated Socialist Worker Party (SWP) activist, Carolann Duggan, a shopfloor worker at the Bausch & Lomb contact lens plant located in the south-eastern city of Waterford. Ms Duggan received around 21% of the vote, well down on the 38% she polled when running second in the race for presidency of the union in April 1997 (IE9704211N).

The SWP is a small far-left organisation which has been strongly critical of the trade union hierarchy and the centralised bargaining system which has been in place in Ireland since 1987, and of which Mr Geraghty has been a strong advocate. Three other candidates in the race polled just below 30% of the votes between them.

Mr Geraghty's election was a triumph for the union's establishment and also for those who have campaigned for a more a more radical and modern approach to trade unionism. A leader writer in the Irish Times on 17 September summed up this apparent dichotomy as follows: "There is a strange irony in Mr Geraghty being seen as some kind of standard-bearer for the trade union establishment. For years, Mr Geraghty himself was demonised by some in the trade union movement as a radical, confrontational left-winger. But it would now appear that Mr Geraghty is seen by the union membership as someone who can build a bridge between traditional trade unionism and the more modern working environment with its emphasis on partnership and consultation."

The top three general officers in SIPTU are the general secretary, the president and the vice-president. Essentially, the three have equal status, but in the exercising of power much depends on the personality of the individual office holder. For example, the current general secretary, Bill Attley, has been one of the key personalities on the trade union side over the past decade with regard to shaping its strategy at a national level within the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) Mr Attley retires in April 1998, a factor which is expected to further add to the status of the newly elected Mr Geraghty.