| Ceardchumann Iompair agus Ilsaothair na hÉireann | |
 | |
| Predecessor | National Union of Dock Labourers |
|---|---|
| Merged into | SIPTU |
| Founded | January 1909 |
| Dissolved | 1990 |
| Location |
|
Key people | James Larkin |
TheIrish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) was atrade union representing workers, initially mainlylabourers, inIreland.
The union was founded byJames Larkin andJames Fearon in January 1909 as a general union.[1][2] Initially drawing its membership from branches of theLiverpool-basedNational Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a range of industries. The ITGWU logo was theRed Hand of Ulster, which is synonymous with ancientGaelicUlster.
The ITGWU was at the centre of thesyndicalist-inspiredDublin Lockout in 1913, the events of which left a lasting impression on the union and hence on the IrishLabour Movement.
After Larkin's departure for the United States in 1914 in the wake of the Lockout,James Connolly led the ITGWU until his execution in 1916 in the wake of theEaster Rising. In turn,William O'Brien became the union's leading figure, and ultimately served as general secretary for many years. Throughout World War I, the ITGWU consistently opposed Irish belligerence, and staunchly supported the advanced nationalist cause. In fact, ITGWU members, in the uniform of the Irish Citizen Army, played a leading role in the Easter Rising, while the Transport Union led a national strike that crippled an attempt to introduce conscription to Ireland in 1918.[3]
In 1923, Larkin formed a new union, theWorkers' Union of Ireland, to which many of the ITGWU'sDublin members affiliated.[4] The ITGWU nevertheless remained the dominant force in Irishtrade unionism, especially outside the capital. William O'Brien and James Larkin remained bitter personal enemies, and when Larkin and his supporters were readmitted into theLabour Party in the early 1940s, O'Brien engineered a split in the party, with the newNational Labour Party claiming that the main party had been infiltrated bycommunists. A further split occurred in theIrish Trades Union Congress when that body accepted the WUI's membership in 1945. The ITGWU left the Congress and established the rivalCongress of Irish Unions.
From the 1950s on proposals to merge the two unions were floated. Finally, in 1990, the ITGWU merged with the Workers' Union of Ireland to formSIPTU (Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union).[5]
The ITGWU should not be confused with the British-basedTransport and General Workers Union, which organised in Ireland under the nameAmalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU) and is nowUnite the Union.
The union absorbed numerous smaller trade unions:[6]
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