A little bit of our history
GMB is a Trade Union operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Although some of its component parts are older, the union’s traces its core activities back to 1889. GMB Trade Union in a previous incarnation as the Gas Workers Union was responsible for inviting James Connolly to Ireland and promoting the start of the Trade Union Movement in Ireland. GMB has more than 600,000 members and is the third largest union in the UK, however, due to the demise of a number of its core trades membership, such as boiler makers in Guinness Brewery, Iron Works in Inchicore, etc. membership in the Republic of Ireland dwindled over the years while in Northern Ireland membership has grown significantly over that same period.
A strategic decision was taken in 2013, following a review of the GMB in the Republic of Ireland and in light of the centenary of the Lockout, to actively engage with workers and long term unemployed in the Republic of Ireland and restore the GMB as a presence in the Trade Union Movement.
GMB is a campaigning Trade Union. It was decided that in keeping with the Union’s objectives to promote training and education which supports access to the workplace and supports security of tenure within the workplace, the Union purchased premises in Dublin, 14 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2 and has set up a wholly-owned training company, GMB College Ltd, to provide vocational training.
