A "PRICE WAR" between two craft unions has resulted in reductions of more than 20 per cent in subscriptions for some of their members. The competition is between the British based AEEU, and the Irish based TEEU.
Until recently, the two unions had been discussing a possible amalgamation, but they are now engaged in a battle for members. As the names suggest, they organise similar groups of workers. The AEEU (Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union) is by far the larger union in Britain, but the TEEU (Technical Engineering and Electrical Union) has more members in the Republic.
The TEEU has introduced a weekly subscription of £1.93 for AEEU members wishing to join this is the rate AEEU members in the Republic pay. The subscription rate for existing TEEU members is £2.25 a week. This has not been reduced.
The AEEU has lodged a complaint with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions over the new TEEU subscription rate. It claims the TEEU is using subscriptions as a marketing device to recruit AEEU members.
However, at its first Irish delegate conference in Galway last week, the AEEU voted to reduce its subscription rate to £1.75, further undercutting the TEEU.
A spokesman for the AEEU denies this is a further price cut in the battle for members. He said that, in Britain, AEEU members pay £1.75, and, now that sterling and the Irish pound were trading at near parity, it had been decided to reduce the Irish rate.
Earlier this year, a number of senior members of the AEEU in the Republic, including its two full time officials, resigned and joined the TEEU. They did so because of changes in the AEEU rules which, they claimed, reduced the autonomy of the Irish membership.
The TEEU set up a transition branch for any AEEU members who wanted to transfer and it has introduced the special £1.93 rate for them.
So far, the AEEU has approved the transfer of 160 members to the TEEU. It says some 600 transfer applications have been received and that many of these members have decided to stay with the AEEU. It expects no more thank 200 to leave when the applications process is finalised.
The AEEU is the largest union in Britain with one million members. The TEEU has 24,000 members, all of them in the Republic.