One of Matt Merrigan's favourite political aphorisms was: "Profits are wages that have not been distributed yet." It summed up the socialist visionary and the trade union pragmatist very well.
He died on June 15th aged 78, while attending the annual conference of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU) in Malahide, Co Dublin. He had been district secretary of the ATGWU in the Republic for 26 years, from 1960 to 1986. He also served as president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in 1985.
Matt Merrigan was born in Dolphin's Barn, Dublin, in 1921, the second youngest child in a family of nine. His father, a builder's labourer, died of TB in 1928. Along with his brothers and sisters he contributed to the family budget by working before and after school hours. He later traced his socialism and trade union commitment to his childhood experiences. "I was forced to find a conscious reason for the existence of poverty and wealth side by side. It didn't make sense to me that many people in Dublin were going hungry while others had more than enough to eat."
He left school at 13 and his first full-time job was as a van boy with a laundry. At 15 he joined the Rowntree-Mackintosh chocolate plant as a general operative and worked there for 20 years. His future wife, Rose, also worked there.
He became senior shop steward at the plant and during the 1930s was active in supporting the republican side in the Spanish Civil War. He joined the Labour Party and in 1957 was appointed a branch secretary of the ATGWU. He became Irish district secretary in 1960. He consistently opposed national wage agreements on the basis that these simply redistributed the section of the national cake devoted to wages and salaries, rather than increasing the workers' share. He campaigned against Ireland's entry to the European Economic Community in 1971 on the basis that it would "irrevocably sell out our political, economic and constitutional independence". He also criticised the Labour Party for not deciding to oppose EEC entry until after the ICTU did so.
He was frequently in conflict with the Labour Party leadership. In spite of this he secured the party nomination for the Ballyfermot constituency in 1972 and came within 262 votes of winning a seat. He owed his defeat to the intervention of Cora Dunne, widow of the late Labour TD, Paddy Dunne, standing as an independent and to his own refusal to seek transfers from Fine Gael voters.
In 1973, he opposed Labour's entry into coalition with Fine Gael. As chairman of the Liaison Committee of the Left he refused to be gagged by the party leadership. His anti-partitionist stance also brought him into conflict with the party, although he always advocated that reunification would be achieved by working class unity rather than force. His position never lost him the respect of ATGWU members in Northern Ireland, many of whom were unionists.
In 1976, he advocated that the ICTU withdraw its support from the Labour Court because he believed it had lost its credibility with workers. It was part of his general approach to seek change through trade union action rather than to rely primarily on the ballot box.
The Labour Party expelled him in 1977, along with Dr Noel Browne. He ran as an independent Labour candidate in Finglas, Dublin, after Brendan Halligan was chosen as the official Labour candidate. He failed to win a seat.
Subsequently he helped found the Socialist Labour Party of which he became chairman. Dr Browne, who had won a Dail seat, in Artane, Dublin, became the SLP's first and only TD.
In 1981, Matt Merrigan was almost jailed for contempt of court. He defied a Supreme Court ruling that an ATGWU boycott of Talbot Ireland was unlawful. The boycott was in protest at the loss of nine jobs in the firm's car assembly plant in Santry, Dublin. Eventually, the Government defused the situation by finding alternative public service jobs for the workers.
Matt Merrigan was also prominent in the tax marches of the period, in protest at the heavy burden confronting PAYE workers, compared with other groups. He advocated at one stage that workers should stop paying tax.
He remained bitter in retirement at the role the Labour Party had played in entering coalition governments. At the June 15th conference of the ATGWU he applauded speakers who called for a special delegate conference of the ICTU to review participation in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
Colleagues described Matt Merrgan as "an inspiration. . . to a whole generation of trade unionists" and a "selfless fighter on behalf of working people. He devoted his entire life to campaigning for justice in society and fair play in the workplace."
Matt Merrigan's wife, Rose, died some years ago. He is survived by his sons, Matt and Maurice, and his daughter, Olga.
Matt Merrigan: born 1921; died, June 2000