Public sector strikes: Eight key union leaders bringing 17 years of industrial peace to an end
While trade union leaders were once regular fixtures in the news headlines, many have faded from public view during 17 years of industrial peace. Picture: iStock
With 300,000 public sector workers set to strike on Wednesday, a 17-year period of industrial peace is coming to an end.
While union leaders were once regular fixtures in the headlines, that prolonged period of detente meant many faded from public view.
The first widespread public sector strike since 2009 has thrust trade unions back into the spotlight, with much of the focus falling on the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' Public Services Committee (PSC), which brings together 19 affiliated unions.
Here are some of the key figures involved.
Mr Reidy was appointed head of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in October 2022, having been the assistant general secretary with responsibility for Northern Ireland since 2016.
A union official with over 24 years' full-time experience in the Irish trade union movement, he started his union career as an official with Siptu in Mayo in 1998.
From 2013 to 2016, he served on Siptu's management team and headed the union's transport, energy, aviation, and construction Division..
Leader of the largest public service union in Ireland, and second largest trade union in the State, Kevin Callinan was formerly deputy general secretary of Fórsa and, before that, Impact.
He was an activist in Dublin Corporation and has served as a trade union organiser, official, and national secretary in the health sector, the civil service, education, and local government. He chairs the PSC.
A four-decade veteran of Siptu, John King was deputy general secretary for the public sector until his appointment as general secretary in 2026.
Having started out in Tipperary, he worked with the union's women workers network before being appointed to lead the Dundalk branch and in 2010, was appointed to the services division.
He is credited with helping Siptu's campaign for the reinstatement of the Joint Labour Committee system.
A trained intensive care nurse, Phil Ní Sheaghdha has been general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) since 2018, having taken over from Liam Doran.
She began work for the INMO in 1998, later completing an MA in industrial relations and a higher diploma in employment law.
In 2019, she led the organisation’s first strike in two decades, winning pay increases and staffing improvements for nurses and midwives.
Ms Ní Sheaghdha has called on members to “show up and take part in picket duties” as well as supporting those organising the protests.
Nurses’ concerns “haven’t been heard properly by Government”, she said on Monday.
General Secretary since 2019, John Boyle is a native of Donegal.
He had been an INTO activist for over 30 years and was a staff representative branch and district chairperson who served on the central executive committee since 2004, representing members in 300 Wicklow and South Dublin schools.
A native of Co Kildare, Michael Gillespie attended Maynooth Post Primary School before studying physics and maths in Maynooth University.
He spent 25 years teaching at St Brendan's Community School in Birr. A union activist throughout his teaching career, he has held several TUI elected offices, including workplace representative and various branch officer positions.
He was also a member of the national executive of TUI and held the position of honorary treasurer.
Since 2013, when he was appointed to the position of assistant general secretary, Mr Gillespie has been a senior official of the union.
Linda Kelly took up the role of ASTI general secretary in late September.
She was previously the national secretary for health and social care professionals, pharmacy, and statutory regulation at Fórsa, where she co-led the union’s largest division, representing 34,000 union members across 33 branches nationwide.
In her role with Fórsa, Ms Kelly led major national negotiations and disputes including the HSE pay and numbers dispute.
She holds a master’s degree in leadership and strategy and a BSc in speech and language therapy. She is a former pupil of St Aloysius' College, Carrigtwohill, Co Cork.
In 2022, she was named among the 's 100 Women Changing Ireland for her contribution as a women’s health activist.
Appointed in 2021 to lead the Irish Federation of University Teachers, Frank Jones has specialised in collective bargaining across the multi-national sector, primarily in the pharmaceutical industry, and was deputy general secretary for four years.
- Paul Hosford, Deputy Political Editor
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