Union membership rises but density declines

According to figures released in March 2001, trade union membership in Ireland rose by almost 19,000 or 3.8% in 2000. However, with overall employment across the economy growing by 4.1%, union density will have fallen further over the year.

Trade unions in Ireland increased their overall membership levels in 2000 but did not quite keep pace with the overall increase in employment, according to figures on union membership released by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in March 2001 Total union membership increased by almost 19,000 or 3.8%, while total employment grew by 4.1%.

The country's largest union, the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) gained 12,000 members but lost exactly half of this number through redundancies or closures, leaving its fully paid-up membership by the end of 2000 at 207,000. According to the SIPTU president, John McDonnell, its most significant gains came in the construction sector where, for example, in Dublin the union dedicated two officials specifically to recruiting building workers. A measure of the success of its strategy is evident in the fact that its membership in construction rose by 46% in Dublin in 2000, against overall job growth in the sector of 6.5%.

SIPTU's increase in membership at national level was just over 3%, however, due partly to the loss of over 1,400 cabin crew members at the state-owned airline, Aer Lingus. This group transferred their membership to the largely public sector Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union (IMPACT) (IE0011223N). This only explains in part the 15% increase recorded by IMPACT, whose overall membership rose from 35,000 to over 40,000. The largest factor in the rise was simply the fact that the government has increased spending on public services and public service recruitment. Public service unions like IMPACT automatically benefit as a result.

Women now make up 44% of the total membership of unions affiliated to ICTU. In fact, the number of women trade union members rose by 11,720 in 2000, out of a total national level increase of 19,000.

While these new ICTU figures show that the overall number of trade union members rose in 2000, the union movement remains a long way short of the levels of employment penetration or density which it achieved in the 1980s, according to figures from the University College Dublin DUES data series on trade unions in Ireland 1925-99 (IE0102164F).

In 1980, the number of members of ICTU-affiliated unions stood at 527,960, representing an employment density level (union membership as a proportion of all those in employment) of 61.9%. The overall membership figure had fallen to 474,590 by 1990, largely due to the major recession that engulfed the Irish economy for most of the 1980s. However, the employment density level, at 57.1%, remained relatively high. Although overall membership had risen again to 561,800 by 1999, employment density had fallen to 44.5% - a 15% decline in the penetration level over 15 years.

While trade unions remain financially viable due to increases in membership, they have been greatly assisted by the dramatic rise employment in Ireland during the 1990s. They have, however, found it extremely difficult to secure members in sectors largely dominated by USA-based investors, particularly in computers and electronics, call centres and financial services.