Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
A trade union revival is needed to push back the "global attack on workers' rights", RMT union General Secretary told SIPTU's Biennial Delegate Conference (BDC) in Galway.
The British trade union leader said that the labour movement needed to be at the forefront of the fight against "outsourcing, subcontracting, agency work and precarious work."
"We must get rid of the two-, three- and four-tier system that divides workers in the workplace," Lynch said, "and fight for the same terms and conditions for everyone."
"We have people now in areas like health, education and transport who don't even know who they are working for.
"In Britain, this is leading to institutional racism with the jobs at the bottom of the tiered system almost entirely done by new migrants, who often don't understand their full rights. It's cynical exploitation."
Lynch also said that the trade union movement needed to push politicians of all parties, in Britain and Ireland, to deliver a workers' agenda.
"We've got to tell them, 'you are under manners'. You've got to deliver, no matter what rosette you're wearing, for a workers' agenda."
As well as increases in pay and improvements in conditions, Lynch backed SIPTU's Right to Organise campaign for legislative change to improve workers' rights.
"In Britain, we have statutory recognition for unions, we need to see the same in Ireland," he said, "as well as the right to access the workplace, the right to hold meetings with workers and the right to recruit."
"Trade unions are agents of progress; we need to galvanise people to fight for change and a better society. That is our mission."
A trade union revival is needed to push back the "global attack on workers' rights", RMT union General Secretary told SIPTU's Biennial Delegate Conference (BDC) in Galway.
The British trade union leader said that the labour movement needed to be at the forefront of the fight against "outsourcing, subcontracting, agency work and precarious work."
"We must get rid of the two-, three- and four-tier system that divides workers in the workplace," Lynch said, "and fight for the same terms and conditions for everyone."
"We have people now in areas like health, education and transport who don't even know who they are working for.
"In Britain, this is leading to institutional racism with the jobs at the bottom of the tiered system almost entirely done by new migrants, who often don't understand their full rights. It's cynical exploitation."
Lynch also said that the trade union movement needed to push politicians of all parties, in Britain and Ireland, to deliver a workers' agenda.
"We've got to tell them, 'you are under manners'. You've got to deliver, no matter what rosette you're wearing, for a workers' agenda."
As well as increases in pay and improvements in conditions, Lynch backed SIPTU's Right to Organise campaign for legislative change to improve workers' rights.
"In Britain, we have statutory recognition for unions, we need to see the same in Ireland," he said, "as well as the right to access the workplace, the right to hold meetings with workers and the right to recruit."
"Trade unions are agents of progress; we need to galvanise people to fight for change and a better society. That is our mission."
