O’Reilly restored to leadership of the ATGWU
Since he became embroiled in a row involving former union boss Bill Morris in June 2001, Mr O’Reilly has in turn been suspended, dismissed and then restored to a lower union grade before his reinstatement, with immediate effect.
However, his reinstatement as Irish regional secretary of the Amalgamated Transport & General Workers’ Union creates a fresh problem for the British-based union.
Talks are expected to take place early next week in London involving Brendan Hodgers and Desmond Henderson, the two officials who replaced Mr O’Reilly and his former deputy Eugene McGloin, who was also sacked from his Belfast-based post.
At a meeting in London on Wednesday, the union’s general executive council accepted senior lawyer John Hendy’s recommendation that Mr O’Reilly and Mr McGloin be reinstated immediately to their former jobs.
After Mr O’Reilly launched a campaign among the union’s Irish membership earlier this year, London head office had Mr Hendy carry out an internal review of the events surrounding the dismissal of the two men.
A socialist opposed to national partnership deals, Mr O’Reilly was suspended in 2001 shortly after he recruited Brendan Ogle’s Irish Locomotive Drivers’ Association (ILDA).
Mr Ogle was then locked in dispute with Iarnród Éireann over his efforts to gain negotiating rights for his union. Rail services were badly hit by a series of stoppages involving ILDA’s 120 mainline train drivers.
Both Mr O’Reilly and Mr McGloin were sacked in 2002 following an internal enquiry - led by union boss Bill Morris - into a range of allegations against them.
After the most serious charges were subsequently dismissed on appeal, Mr O’Reilly and Mr McGloin were offered demoted positions and given the full salaries attached to their previous posts.
Aged 57, Mr O’Reilly has been a trade union official for over 30 years. The ATGWU has 45,000 members in the Republic and Northern Ireland.
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