Galway Trades Council Centenary Commemoration

galway | history and heritage | event notice Thursday May 19, 2011 22:17 by John Cunningham - GalwayTradesCouncilCentenaryCtee john.cunningham at nuigalway dot ie

Historical and musical events

Galway Trades Council was established following the annual meeting of the Irish Trade Union Congress in the Town Hall during June 1911. Strikes and lock-outs ensued as Galway workers fought for respect as well as for improved wages and conditions. The Trades Council returns to the Town Hall where it was established on 8 June for a varied programme of events, which will celebr

Programme
7. 15 Welcoming address from Helen Cousins, president Galway Council of Trades Unions

7.30 Short historical talks chaired by Brendan Fox, past president Galway Council of Trades Unions
(i) Theresa Moriarty on MARY GALWAY of Belfast, a pioneer of women’s trade unionism in Ireland, who spoke with Jim Larkin at large public meeting, Eyre Square, 6 June 1911.
(ii) John Cunningham on Establishment of Galway United Trades & Labour Council, following Irish Trade Union Congress meeting in Town Hall, 5, 6, 7 June 1911

8.30 Launch of GILBERT LYNCH memoirs (AINDRIAS O CATHASAIGH, editor), by MICHAEL D HIGGINS
Born in Lancashire, Lynch was in the GPO in 1916, was union organiser in Galway (ITGWU & ATGWU), Labour TD for Galway, 1927, & subsequently ATGWU Irish Regional Secretary & Irish Trade Union Congress president.

9.30 Musical performance: WOOODY GUTHRIE: hard times and hard travellin’ by WILL KAUFMAN, musician and lecturer.
A ‘live documentary’ that sets the songs of Woody Guthrie in the context of the American 1930s – the Dust Bowl, the Depression, the New Deal & the state of popular music itself. Will Kaufman brings such hard-hitting Guthrie songs as Vigilante Man, Pretty Boy Floyd, and I Ain't Got No Home into conversation with other songs of the era – from Joe Hill's The Preacher & the Slave to Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? These renditions, buttressed by detailed historical commentary, exemplify the blending of music & radical politics that marks Guthrie's powerful & evocative work.