New leader of Unite union vows to tackle membership decline

Promising to target non-union and anti-union companies through a sector-based organising strategy, the new regional secretary of the Irish branch of the trade union Unite has warned that ‘no-go areas’ do not exist for this newly-merged union. In promoting trade union expansion, he argued that the trade union movement should recognise that it does not need to be dominated by the largest union and that all unions should have equal recognition.

In an exclusive interview with the weekly independent journal, Industrial Relations News (IRN), the new Regional Secretary of the trade union Unite, Jimmy Kelly, outlined a strategy for organising workers in non-union companies. Moreover, he defined pre-conditions for talks on a new national agreement. Mr Kelly also emphasised that Unite will not be dominated by Ireland’s largest union, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) and calls on public sector workers to support their private sector colleagues.

Mr Kelly, a former chief shop steward at the internationally-known glassware manufacturer Waterford Crystal, a key component of the international Waterford Wedgwood glass manufacturing and ceramics group, has been a long-standing member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

Unite merger

Unite was formed in May 2007 through the merger of two UK-based trade unions, the Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) and Amicus (UK0706039I). Both Amicus and T&G have regional offices in Ireland, where T&G was originally known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU). Since the founding of the Irish Free State in 1922, British trade unions have maintained branches in Ireland. These unions tend to operate as autonomous regional divisions, while maintaining strong ideological links to their UK-based parent unions.

Organising campaign in non-union companies

In the interview with IRN, Mr Kelly stated that Unite will target different economic sectors – such as the food and beverages sector – by launching union membership organising campaigns so that one employer cannot ‘pick the union off’ against another employer. He also announced the trade union’s intention to build what he calls a ‘solid base of workplace organisation’ by rebuilding the shop steward movement within Unite and across the trade union movement. ‘Shop stewards need to see themselves as a central part of the movement’, he stated.

Union demands on social partnership

Mr Kelly indicated that Unite will walk away from the 20-year-old national social partnership process this year if a number of ‘deal breaking’ demands are not met. Such demands include pay rises above the rate of inflation, a local bargaining clause in the private sector, a legal right to trade union representation, mandatory pensions, and equal treatment for temporary agency workers. ATGWU and Mr Kelly himself were consistent opponents of centralised pay bargaining under social partnership, whereas the former Amicus union had become a solid supporter of the national agreements.

Promoting trade union growth

Mr Kelly claims that many workers consider trade union leaders to be ‘too attached to bosses and government’ and believes that this perception is impacting on the ability of trade unions to grow. He stated:

We need to be honest that the movement is experiencing membership decline, and unless we address that decline by investing in union organising, by going into places where there is no union, raising banner of there being no ‘no-go’ areas, we are going to continue that decline.

In a message directed at SIPTU, Mr Kelly suggested that ‘the movement has to recognise that it should not be dominated by the biggest union. We are coming in as a merged union. We want our “deal breakers” and our position on partnership and national wage agreements recognised within the movement. The days of it being dominated by one union is not acceptable’.

He also urged public sector trade unions to listen more to the concerns of private sector workers in relation to matters like union recognition and pensions. Pointing to a number of areas where certain public sector unions see a ‘comfort zone’ for themselves within national wage deals, Mr Kelly emphasised that public service unions have a form of local bargaining through the special public service pay benchmarking system. These unions have no difficulty with union recognition, because the government is their employer, he argued. However, he highlighted that they need ‘to support what we need and not turn wage deals into something dominated by public sector workers and to hell with the private sector’.

Brian Sheehan, IRN Publishing