Unions ‘must meet needs of workers’
National Industrial Secretary Noel Dowling told the union’s Galway conference that trade unions had not been deploying adequate resources on the issue and called on members to develop further links to increase membership.
Although there are now more Irish trade union members than ever before, the number of new people in employment has far outstripped union membership. The proportion of unionised workers in the private sector has fallen to 29% from a high of more than 40%. In 1990, when SIPTU was formed six of every 10 workers employed were trade union members. Today, despite a 20% growth in SIPTU membership, just four in every 10 workers are represented by a union.
