Siptu out to regain ground lost since crash

After struggling through the recession, up to 400 Siptu delegates gathering for their first biennial conference in Cork in a decade are ready to focus on how they can regain the ground they lost over the last eight years, both in terms of finding new members and improving the lot of existing members.

Siptu may still be largest union on the island with 200,000 members, but that is a full 50,000 members less than before the economy collapsed. The demise of the construction sector took a significant proportion of that.

“For the first time [since the recession began], we have started to rebuild the organisation,” said Siptu general secretary Joe O’Flynn in advance of the conference.