The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) Joint Women’s Seminar took place in Dundalk this year, with hundreds of delegates from across Ireland coming together. The seminar had a strong focus on equality, solidarity, and how to ensure a better society for workers and communities.  

Co-Chairs of the ICTU Women’s Committee, Margaret Coughlan (Fórsa) and Tina Creaney (NIPSA), welcomed delegates and expertly chaired a wide range of speakers. This was followed by a rousing opening speech by Jacquie White, chairperson of ICTU’s Northern Ireland Committee (NIC), which set the tone for two days of getting to the heart of the key issues facing women trade unionists. 

Co-Chairs of the ICTU Women’s Committee, Margaret Coughlan (left) and Tina Creaney (right)

The keynote speakers were Kudsia Batool, head of equalities at the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and Aakanksha Surve, from the ICTU Black Leadership Programme and National Union of Journalists (NUJ). They addressed the critical issues of racism and misogyny and discussed the vital role trade unions play in combatting them. Aakanksha spoke movingly on her own experiences of racism, emphasising the importance of allies speaking out against discrimination, while Kudsia provided powerful, real-life examples of how to confront the far-right. 

An update on the horrific situation in Palestine was presented by Patricia McKeown, regional secretary of UNISON, who visited the region in 2023 as part of an ICTU delegation along with Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan. It was a reminder to everyone in the room that we need to double our efforts for peace and justice. 

The two fringe events were packed, with one on how trade unions can work together with civil society organisations to tackle racism, and another on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS). They were practical workshops on how to implement the conversations delegates had been having all morning, from confronting unconscious bias to the companies in Ireland on the boycott list. 

A session that shocked delegates was ‘The Role of Pornography in the Pandemic of Violence Against Women and Girls’ by Ruth Breslin, director of the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute. Conversations on how this must be tackled by wider society kept going long after the session. 

ICTU general secretary Owen Reidy opened the second day with a pledge of continued allyship to women trade unionists, which was welcomed strongly by all in the room. This was followed by an expert update on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women presented by Giulia Massobrio, ITUC, and Deirdre O’Connor, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO). 

This led into the final session of the seminar with a panel on misogyny, hate and the far-right. Maxine Murphy Higgins and Sally Rees from the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), Kellie O’Dowd from GMB union, and Helen Crickard of Raise Your Voice, discussed how we can use our own experiences as well as the expert advice from the seminar to inform the work of our respective unions.  

Fórsa delegation

Speaking about the event, Fórsa delegate Corrine Phelan, a member of the health and welfare division and Galway branch, said:  

“I come to this seminar every chance I get, as I believe in growing women’s strength in the union movement. It’s always eye-opening, with amazing speakers and it’s also an opportunity to network with other women across trade unions. The solidarity with each other is one of the best reasons to come here.” 

“I have to admit that it is tough to hear that we’re still working on the same issues year after year. But it makes us even more determined to keep fighting, and to empower every woman in the workplace.”  

Chair of the ICTU Women’s Committee (South) Margaret Coughlan said: “When women in the trade union movement come together the power in the room is palpable. At this seminar we have heard some really important contributions. Now, we need to keep pushing within each of our own unions to ensure gender equality issues in the workplace and in wider society stay on top of the agenda.”  

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