THE companies where the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU) and the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) both have members reads like a Who's Who of Irish industry. They include ESB and TEAM Aer Lingus in the public sector and practically the entire food, drink, tobacco and engineering industries in the private sector. A war between them could prove crippling to the economy.
This week, the possibility of such a war moved closer with Mr Brendan Fenelon of the British based AEEU writing to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions expressing grave dissatisfaction at its response to his complaint about the TEEU trying to "poach" his 10,000 members in the Republic.
This is his second letter within days. In the first he called on the ICTU to intervene urgently in order to prevent an "all out war" between the two unions.
The AEEU is conferring with its lawyers on taking the TEEU and the ICTU to court, if necessary, to hold onto its membership in the Republic. Mr Fenelon, originally from Carlow, is a member of the 13 strong executive committee of the AEEU and has been in Ireland for a fortnight to ensure there are no mass defections to the TEEU.
With more than 700,000 members in Britain and assets of £60 million, the AEEU is a formidable opponent. By contrast, the 26 county based TEEU has a membership of 23,000 and assets of less than £1 million. It seems a foolhardy exercise by the TEEU but it is in part a response to an unusual chain of events.
The unions discussed a merger but talks stalled in February, 1995, on how much autonomy the TEEU would retain. The AEEU has since re-organised and adopted a new rule book.
The rule book confirmed the TEEU's worst fears about losing its Irish identity. The AEEU adopted a new more democratic but centralised structure. In the process it abolished the Dublin district committees.
The new structure allows for an Irish conference, which can put motions and send delegates to the biennial conferences of the union in Britain but it places day to day management of the union in the hands of its full time officials. These union employees are answerable to the British based executive. The majority of them are based in the North where the AEEU has the bulk of its Irish membership.
The union's Dublin district committee sought to meet sentor AEEU officials to discuss its abolition but they would only meet Mr Eamon Devoy, the senior AEEU full time official in the Republic. On Tuesday, June 11th he resigned over lack of progress in talks on restoring the Irish structures.
His colleague in Limerick Mr Pat Guilfoyle, also resigned, along with the entire membership of the defunct Dublin district committee.
Mr Devoy is a highly regarded member of the ICTU executive. Even Mr Fenelon pays tribute to him.
However, he is even less happy at the decision of Mr Devoy and other dissidents to join the TEEU and to campaign to persuade other AEEU members to do likewise. The TEEU has set up a "transition branch" of the union, run by Mr Devoy and Mr Guilfole, to cater for many AEEU members wishing to join.
Mr Fenelon says the AEEU has decided to appoint to lay members to the IMC, despite the rule changes.
He rejects the claims of Mr Devoy and Mr Guilfoyle that the new rule book denies local autonomy to Irish members. He also denies that the new rule book breaches the 1990 Industrial Relations Act, which states that Irish members of British based unions must have control over industrial and political policy in the Republic.
The ICTU constitution goes further and requires British based affiliates to allow Irish sections control of local finances and the power to sanction industrial action. Mr Fenelon points out that the IMC is made up entirely of Irish members, even if the majority are based in the North.
The AEEU says it will rely on Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution to defend the legality of the new rule book in the Republic.
This could produce a legal battle between Irish trade union separatists, who want 26 county structures adhered to, and Northern trade union loyalists who want the Republic's 32 county jurisdiction upheld.
Mr Fenelon denies claims by the TEEU that the AEEU has attempted to use its generous retirement "hamper" to win the support within the TEEU leadership for a takeover of their union.
The AEEU has received a lot of damaging publicity in the British media over the past week as details have emerged of the generous early retirement "hampers" available for senior officials. Lump sums of up to £50,000 are available for officials aged over 55, along with full pay until retirement and then a full pension. They are also allowed to keep their union car.
A senior Northern official, Mr Jim Kirkwood, received an early retirement hamper last month.
At a farewell function organized by the Cork plumbers' lodge of the AEEU on May 29th, the general secretary of the AEEU, Mr Ken Jackson attempted informally to revive merger talks with the TEEU general secretary, Mr Frank O'Reilly.
Afterwards, senior TEEU officials claim another AEEU representative at the function suggested Mr O'Reilly could be a beneficiary of the "hamper" system if the unions merged. Mr Fenelon, who attended the function, said if any such offer was made it had not been authorised by the AEEU and that neither Mr Jackson or himself were involved in the discussion.
The AEEU is determined to defend its membership. ICTU could also find itself in the firing line if it does not ensure the TEEU abides by rules over transfers between affiliated unions.
A spokesman for ICTU says the AEEU complaints have been referred to its assistant general secretary, Mr Kevin Duffy.
That may not be enough to satisfy the AEEU. But it may find the Irish courts less ready than their British counterparts to become involved in industrial relations battles. In that event, the unions may be left to fight it out on the shop floor.