Almost 1,900 members of Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU) members in the Dublin/Wicklow and Munster regions have applied to join the print division of the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), Ireland’s largest union. This move would reduce GPMU in the Republic of Ireland to a fraction of its current size. GPMU is a British-based trade union, whose head office is in Bedford, England.
In what would be one of the largest ever transfer of members between two trade unions in the Republic of Ireland, a majority of Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU) members applied in early 2003 to join the print division of the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU).
Almost 1,900 members of Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU) members in the Dublin/Wicklow and Munster regions have applied to join the print division of the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), Ireland’s largest union. This move would reduce GPMU in the Republic of Ireland to a fraction of its current size. GPMU is a British-based trade union, whose head office is in Bedford, England.
If the transfer goes ahead, it would be the largest transfer of members since over 1,400 Aer Lingus cabin crew moved from SIPTU to the Irish Municipal Public and Civil Trade Union (IMPACT) in 2000 (IE0011223N). That transfer soured relationships between the two unions involved and led to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) toughening its rules on inter-union transfers at its biennial conference in July 2001 (IE0106238N).
The GPMU also has about 2,300 members in Northern Ireland (known as the Ulster Counties branch), with roughly 1,000 members in the 'Three Provinces' branch, which covers the Republic outside of Dublin/Wicklow and Munster. No applications have been received by SIPTU from these branches.
Meanwhile, GPMU has made what it calls 'a strong complaint' to ICTU, over what it alleges are 'SIPTU’s unhelpful and divisive activities'. However, no formal complaint initiating the ICTU inter-union disputes committee procedure had been made by the end of February.
Under the ICTU rules governing transfers, SIPTU has officially informed GPMU that the applications have been made. Under the rules, as amended at the 2001 ICTU conference, SIPTU should not accept the GPMU members into its own membership unless: (a) the GPMU approves; or (b) the transfer has been backed by the ICTU’s disputes committee, which deals with issues over inter-union transfers.
The request for transfer – which represents the majority of GPMU’s membership in the Republic of Ireland – should be seen in the context of current speculation about the future of GPMU in the UK. It has suffered from falling membership and financial difficulties for a number of years and is reported to be currently looking at the possibility of a merger with either a large general union or a craft union.
The GPMU’s total membership in the UK and the Republic of Ireland declined from 193,416 in 1992 to 103,242 in 2002, with a 10% decline between 2001 and 2002 alone.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2003), GPMU members apply to join SIPTU, article.
