After seven years as ICTU General Secretary, Patricia King stepped down at a recent meeting of the Executive Council.
Patricia King began her early career in the mid 1970's as a shop steward for clerical workers in what was a man’s world, a British motor car assembly factory in Crumlin. She began her employment as a Trade Union Official with FWUI in 1985 and progressed to become the first female national officer in SIPTU as vice-president in 2010. Patricia King’s legacy is immense. She was the first female General Secretary of the ICTU and was often involved in difficult high-level negotiations with Government and business groups.
As General Secretary, she successfully argued that workers' jobs should be protected during the Covid-19 Pandemic and lockdown. She persuaded Government to establish the temporary wage subsidy scheme as hundreds of thousands of workers were laid off and insisted on the development of a ‘Workplace Safety Protocol’ to protect workers in the workplace.
In his tribute to Patricia King, ICTU President Kevin Callinan said, during the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic the union leader was “instrumental” in pushing for adequate State supports for the public, such as the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the wage subsidy scheme to keep workers in jobs.
“She played a key role in ensuring people were protected from the worst effects of the pandemic,” he said.
In what she knew would be her last months as Congress leader Patricia spent many hours behind closed doors in talks to nail down an agreement on the future of Collective Bargaining and Trade Union representation, as part of the Tripartite High-Level Group set up to enable an agreed transposition of the EU Directive on the subject. This has the potential to make life better for all low-paid workers in various parts of the economy.
Patricia’s tenacity and unequalled experience gained her widespread respect as a formidable presence at conferences and negotiating tables, as she was frequently called in to knock heads together during intractable disputes. These included the Ryanair/Forsa dispute/IALPA dispute in 2018 and the National Nurses dispute in 2019. While in SIPTU Patricia King played a leading role in the Irish Ferries Dispute which paved the way for an overhaul of employment rights law. She represented ICYU on the Low Pay Commission for a number of years.
Patricia King also successfully campaigned on issues such as pensions, the introduction of a living wage, the elimination of Zero hours contracts, and Bogus Self-Employment together with her advocacy for the introduction of statutory sick leave entitlements for workers, now on the statute book and the right to request remote working currently being finalised.
In his tribute, General Secretary Owen Reidy said, “I have had the opportunity to work closely with Patricia over our years working together in SIPTU and laterally in Congress. She has been a mentor to me. I was always struck by her sheer tenacity and determination during a dispute and her capacity to bring workers with her. She has been a trailblazer in her union career, being many firsts. Her legacy to the Irish trade Union movement is rich and extensive.”
