A TRADE union leader has accused another union of "poaching" members. Mr Brendan Fenelon of the executive council of the British based Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union accused the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union of launching an attack on our union with one purpose in mind, and that was to take all of our membership in the Republic of Ireland".
He was speaking at the first Irish delegate conference of the AEEU in Galway yesterday. The TEEU, which is an Irish based union, "told all sorts of tall stories designed to panic our members into joining". The TEEU had told AEEU members that the AEEU was "finished here in the Republic."
"A union, this union, does not expect attacks like that from former friends and other trade unions", Mr Fenelon said. "That is the sort of attack we would expect from employers."
He said that, despite being censured by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for its activities, the TEEU was persisting. The AEEU had had to submit a new complaint to the ICTU about the continued "poaching" of the TEEU. Despite all the TEEU activity, Mr Fenelon said only 160 AEEU members had transferred to the TEEU.