Irish Mental Hospital Workers' Union

The Irish Mental Hospital Workers' Union was a trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. It was formed in 1912 as a split from the National Asylum Workers' Union, and it merged with the Transport and General Workers' Union

Transport and General Workers' Union

The Transport and General Workers' Union, also known as the TGWU and the T&G, was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland - where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union - with 900,000 members...

in 1926.

History

The Irish Mental Hospital Workers' Union (Known at first as the Irish Asylum Workers' Union) was founded in 1917 in Dublin.. Its peak years of activity were between 1917-1921. Amongst its greatest achievements was the negotiation of national minimum conditions of employment in 1920. Under this agreement asylum workers' hours were reduced to 56 hours a week (in some cases staff had been working up to 90 hours a week)and a minimum wage of £60 for men and £46 for women was introduced. Ultimately the union began to fracture from 1922 with onset of the post War slump. Some branches amalgamated with the Irish Transport and General Worker's Union whilst others later joined the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union. By 1926 the last of these amalgamations had occurred.

History

See also