John Conroy (trade unionist)

John Conroy (1904–13 February 1969) was an Irish trade union leader.

Born in Wicklow, he started work early and held a variety of jobs until, in 1923, he was employed by the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) as their full-time organiser in Wicklow. Although he and a colleague were charged with conspiracy, they were found not guilty, and Conroy continued his union career. After a period working in Limerick, he moved to Dublin to take charge of the union's Industrial Section. He was elected as Vice President of the ITGWU in 1946, and as General President in 1953.^[1][2]

As President of the union, Conroy focused on a programme of modernisation, along with campaigning for a national minimum wage. He also worked with James Larkin, Jnr, to promote the merger of the Irish Trade Union Congress and the Congress of Irish Unions, which was accomplished with the founding of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in 1959.^[1] This accomplished, Conroy served as the first president of the new organisation, and discussed a merger of the ITGWU with Larkin's Workers' Union of Ireland, although this did not occur until many years later.^[3]

References

1. News Bulletin, International Union of Food and Allied Workers' Associations, 1969, p.5
2. Fergus D'Arcy et al, Workers in Union, p.213
3. Arthur Ivor Marsh and Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, p.464