The membership of unions affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has increased by more than 20,000 in the Republic this year. The treasurer of ICTU, Mr John McDonnell, says not all returns are in yet but, for the first time since the current boom began, union growth will almost match economic growth. Almost a third of the increase is accounted for by his union, SIPTU.
In contrast, trade union membership in Northern Ireland has risen by only 99 since 1999. Nevertheless, union membership in Ireland will reach a record high of around 760,000 this year, with 545,000 members in the Republic.
While the increase in the Republic is not dramatically up on the 19,000 rise recorded for 1999, it takes place against decelerating employment growth, suggesting that unions are catching up with the burgeoning labour force. In the year ending December 2000, employment grew by 4.1 per cent while unions grew by 3.7 per cent.
SIPTU membership increased by 5,869, or 3 per cent. However, this probably underestimates real growth. Unlike many unions, SIPTU uses financial membership rather than book membership figures to calculate changes. Financial membership is based on the total income divided by the annual union subscription. The book, or end-of-year membership of SIPTU, is about 250,000.
While the union continues to lose ground in traditional areas such as textiles, it has dramatically expanded in others. The highest growth sector has been construction. Membership in Dublin has risen by 46 per cent although overall growth in construction jobs over the same period was 6.5 per cent.
The union set itself a target of increasing membership by 5,000 for 2000. Mr McDonnell says it is "gratifying that in the first full year since we refocused our organisational efforts, we surpassed that target".
Membership of SIPTU would have increased by almost 0.5 per cent more but for the defection of 1,000 Aer Lingus ca bin crew to IMPACT, which helped to push its membership from 35,000 in 1999 to 40,250 by the end of last year.
IMPACT is the fastest-growing union in Ireland and the second-largest in the Republic. Its deputy general secretary, Mr Shay Cody, says two-thirds of new members came from the health and childcare sectors.
Mandate has been pushed into third place with 40,000 members, an increase of 1,000.
Its national industrial officer, Mr John Douglas, says growth is based on securing recognition in new retail areas. A major source was winning recognition in concession shops based in already unionised stores.