The Irish Transport & General Workers’ Union in Laois and Offaly, 1918-1930. By Francis Devine
Trade unionism has a long history in Laois and Offaly. Local craft workers – like bakersi and smiths – were no doubt members of their respective trade unions but quick searches of general histories of labour rarely find either county – or any of its county towns – in their indices.ii More fruitful would be searches of the histories of teachers – particularly National Teachers – and postal workers where it is known that there were active branches in the counties, although small in number. The Irish Post Office Engineering Union (IPOEU), later Communications Union of Ireland, for example, had …