Building and Allied Trades' Union

Last updated
Building and Allied Trades' Union
Founded1998
Members10,020 (2002) [1]
Affiliation ICTU
Office location Dublin, Ireland
CountryIreland
Website batu.ie

The Building and Allied Trades' Union (BATU) is a trade union representing workers in the construction industry and furniture trade in Ireland.

A trade union, also called a labour union or labor union (US), is an association of workers in a particular trade, industry, or company created for the purpose of securing improvement in pay, benefits, working conditions or social and political status through collective bargaining and working conditions through the increased bargaining power wielded by creation of a monopoly of the workers. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment". This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies.

Ireland Island in north-west Europe, 20th largest in world, politically divided into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (a part of the UK)

Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth.

Contents

Forerunners

Bricklayers in Dublin appear to have been unionised since at least 1792, and the Old Bodymen was founded in 1802, becoming the Regular Operative Brick and Stonelayers by the 1860s, and the Incorporated Brick and Stonelayers of the City of Dublin in the following decade. In 1888, it registered as the Ancient Guild of Incorporated Brick and Stone Layers Trade Union, although its membership was never large, peaking at 1,367 in 1970. [2]

Dublin capital and largest city in Ireland

Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It is on the east coast of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, at the mouth of the River Liffey, and is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains. It has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region, as of 2016, was 1,347,359, and the population of the Greater Dublin area was 1,904,806.

Woodworkers in Ireland were originally unionised in the British-based Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers. In 1922, they split away from their own Irish Union of Woodworkers, although it did not join the Irish Trades Union Congress, only affiliating to its successor, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, from 1954. Later known as the Irish National Union of Woodworkers, in 1979 it merged with the Irish Society of Woodcutting Machinists, a small union founded in 1934 with a peak membership of 750, to form the National Union of Woodworkers and Woodcutting Machinists. [3]

Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers British trade union

The Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers (ASW) was a British trades union representing carpenters, joiners and allied trades. The ASW was formed in 1921 by the amalgamation of two smaller unions. It was itself merged into the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians in 1971.

Irish Trades Union Congress union federation covering the island of Ireland

The Irish Trade Union Congress (ITUC) was a union federation covering the island of Ireland.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trade Union Congress and the Congress of Irish Unions, is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation to which trade unions in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland affiliate.

Formation

In 1998, the Ancient Guild of Incorporated Brick and Stone Layers Trade Union merged with the National Union of Wood Workers and Wood Cutting Machinists, to form the new "Building and Allied Trades' Union". [4]

General Secretaries

1998: Paddy O'Shaughnessy
2011: Brendan O'Sullivan

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References

  1. Juliet Love and Jillian O'Brien, Western Europe 2003, p.354
  2. John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, p.16
  3. John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, p.142
  4. John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, p.17