Operative Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland

The Operative Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland (OPATSI) is a trade union representing plasterers in Ireland.

The union was founded in 1893 as the Regular Stucco Plasterers' Trade Union of the City of Dublin. In its early years, it met at the Trades Hall on Capel Street in Dublin, and was led by Harry Murtagh and James O'Neill.^[1][2] From its early days, the union has claimed to have descended from St Bartholomew Guild of Plasterers and Bricklayers which, it claims, was founded in 1670.^[2]

Gerard Doyle became secretary of the union in 1928, and under his leadership it was renamed as the Operative Plasterers Society. Leo Crawford became president in 1938, and brought it to prominence within the Irish trade union movement. Under his leadership, the union was a founder of the Congress of Irish Unions. In the 1950s, its main rival, the British-based National Association of Operative Plasterers, decided to withdraw from Ireland, and its Irish members transferred to the Dublin-based union, which took the name "Operative Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland" to reflect its broader remit.^[2]

General Secretaries

1901: George Leahy

1912: Thomas Irwin

1928: Gerard Doyle

1973: James Irwin

1981: Richard Carney

2010: Billy Wall

References

1. ↑ Francis Devine, Fintan Lane and Niamh Puirséil, Essays in Irish labour history: a festschrift for Elizabeth and John W. Boyle, p.92
2. 1 2 3 Operative Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland, "OPATSI History"