Ms Nuala Keher took the SIPTU conference by storm on Wednesday when she made an impassioned plea "not to go back into the dark of the free collective jungle to watch from the sidelines as our weaker brothers and sisters are picked off one by one".
She said that, whether or not talks on a new agreement succeeded, they should "stick together" in taking whatever collective action was needed to secure their objectives.
She is one of a new generation of SIPTU women activists who have grown with the organisation. A mother of four and grandmother of one, she left school early to take on her mother's job as a level-crossing gatekeeper in Oranmore, Co Galway. "It meant getting up at five in the morning, in time for the trains, but it gave you plenty of time to study," she recalls.
Returning to college after Iarnrod Eireann automated the crossing and gave her a redundancy deal, she graduated with an MA in industrial sociology. She is now director of the Open Learning Centre for adult education at NUI Galway. Among the courses being run are a SIPTU scholarship scheme which provides degree-level courses in education and training, including courses in human resources and peer training for shop stewards.
Although she had been a shop steward at 16 in the Western Health Board, she never held senior union office until she stood for election to SIPTU's national executive four years ago. She was re-elected unopposed this year.
Some 20 years ago she took part in the PAYE tax demonstrations in Galway and feels strongly that the leadership of the trade union movement at the time betrayed the membership. However, she feels confident that today's leaders will stand firm and that today's rankand-file membership is far better informed to ensure its rights are protected.
Explaining her call for a resumption of the tax campaign, she said: "I was talking to a lot of people before the conference and asking what the issues were." She found there was a lot of anger but there was also "the fear of people out there on their own in weak sectors like workers in catering and textiles".
In any new talks there would have to be balance between meeting the needs of the strong and the weaker sectors. It was also "time we took back a bit of our power" and if that meant taking to the streets she was happy to do it.