THE Communications Workers Union has started a recruitment campaign in the private sector, aimed at companies competing with Telecom Eireann and An Post.
The union's national organiser, Mr Chris Hudson, said yesterday it did not matter who the employer was, workers were entitled to union protection.
The CWU is also holding talks with SIPTU and MSF, which are organising workers in some of the same areas, so that they can coordinate their activities.
People in many of these companies risked "seeing their promotion opportunities go out the window, or even seeing their jobs go out the window" for joining a union, Mr Hudson said.
He said trade unionists should also campaign against nonunion companies. "If BUPA phone you up, or Esat Digifone, offering their services, ask them if they are unionised and, if they say `no', tell them you're taking your business elsewhere."
Earlier, the president of the CWU, Mr Denis Clifford, told delegates to the annual conference in Tralee that "employers are mistaken if they believe national agreements are some sort of endless piece of string that they can pull out at regular intervals to mollify the trade union movement."
There were real issues of tax reform, education for the disadvantaged and policies to tackle social exclusion needed.
Partnership 2000 was a potentially powerful means of accelerating productivity and innovation in the economy, which nobody should he afraid of.