Thomas Kennedy (Irish politician)

Thomas Kennedy (died 18 September 1947) was an Irish Labour Party politician and trade union official.^[1]

From 1905 to 1909, Thomas Kenedy worked as a leather trunk maker by trade in Scotland,where he met James Larkin when Larkin was organising for the N.U.D.L.^[2] Then Kenedy returned Ireland and joined Socialist Party of Ireland (1904)^[3] ,which was formed in 1904 by the merger of Irish Socialist Republican Party and Irish Socialist Labour Party.Kenedy joined Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) in 1913 ,which is a union related with the party.^[2][4] After that,Kennedy worked closely with William O'Brien,a member of the leadership in ITGWU and the head of the workers' support committee,and began forty years as William O'Brien's closest political partner.^[4][5]

Over the next few decades, he became active in trade union affairs and politics.While O'Brien was elected general treasurer of ITGWU in 1918^[5],Kennedy started serving on the Executive Council.^[2]In 1919 Kennedy take part in the illegal First Dáil as Justice of Dáil Éireann,which is outlawed by the British government,^[4] and then elected as member of Dublin Corporation from 1920 Dublin Corporation election to 1924. With the formation of the Irish Free State, O'Brien was elected as Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin South at the 1922 general election.Therefore,Kennedy acted for O'Brien as General Treasurer until O'brien lost his seat at the 1923 general election.^[2][6] In the same year Kennedy was elected as the Vice Chairman of the Labour Party.Kennedy was also a member of President's Economic Commission 1928^[4],Finance Committee and Resident Executive.^[2]Since 1924, Kennedy has entered the center of power in the union leadership as vice president of ITGWU,and General President later in 1939.^[4]

In 1941,de Valera introduced two bills, the Trade Unions Act 1941 and Emergency Order Power No. 83. Emergency Order Power No. 83 requires employees, employers and unions to stop negotiating over wages, which simply means "freezing wages" so that wages remain unchanged during the state of emergency. And the new Trade Unions Act introduced a licensing system, requiring unions to obtain the support of a sufficient number of workers and to pay a large deposit in order to operate in a particular industry.This made it difficult for smaller unions to survive, so Kennedy condemned the new Trade Union Act. However, O'Brien showed a serious attitude of compromise. So when the bill was introduced, O'Brien and the ITGWU leadership limited any discussion against new trade union law. Instead, since O'Brien had made an unsuccessful proposal a few years earlier to rationalize the structure of the Irish Trades Union Congress, he simply condemned Order No. 83 and then called for rationalization again. Influenced by O'Brien, the ITGWU leadership and executive committee members, including Kennedy, eventually compromised on the trade union law.However,Larkin and the WUI played a leading role in the unsuccessful campaign against the bill,led to Larkin's popularity among unions for a period of time afterwards, and the relative decline of the ITGWU and its leadership.^[4]

In the following period, Thomas Kennedy became increasingly anti-communist under the influence of O'Brien, and was sometimes even more radical than O'Brien.In 1944, the Labour Party split due to Larkin's return and O'Brien's accusation that the party had become communist, and O'Brien formed the National Labour Party, supported by Kennedy and the conservative leadership of the ITGWU.Later,While Fianna Fáil got an overall majority and National Labour Party lose one seat,Kennedy and McMullen began to look openly to Fianna Fáil but it was rejected by O'Brien.In March 1945, the Council of Irish Unions became a breakaway Congress of Irish Unions (CIU). In the debate over this move in the ITGWU Conference,Kennedy tried to increase support for the split with a bitter Anti-Communist attack which failed to allay the doubts of many delegates.^[4]

In 1946, O'Brien submitted his retirement application to Kennedy, and Kennedy succeeded O'Brien as general secretary.^[4]

At the end of 1923, the engineer Thomas McLaughlin working for Siemens-Schuckert approached the new Irish Free State's Minister for Industry and Commerce Patrick McGilligan with a proposal for a much more ambitious project.With the help of Siemens,Government start Shannon hydroelectric scheme to build a hydroelectric plant on Shannon River. However,unskilled workers were treated unfairly and were paid very low wages. This led to a collective boycott by workers and unions.The government was accused of playing 'fast and loose with established conditions of employment … in their latest outrage on the Shannon banks'. It was noted by Labour Party deputies that government ministers who insisted that 32s per week was more than sufficient for a working man to live were themselves, at this time, paid £32 per week.While Irish Times claimed that there was nothing wrong with labour conditions on the Shannon Scheme,Kennedy,as ITGWU vice-president in 1925,condemned the Irish Times.^[7]

According to biographer John Horgan, Kennedy was friendly with Sean Lemass and, along with O'Brien and other union leaders, had a profound influence on Lemass's policies and on Lemass's attention to labor issues.^[8]

Kennedy was elected to the Irish Free State Seanad in 1934 for 9 years and served until the Free State Seanad was abolished in 1936.^[1] He was defeated at the 1938 Seanad election. He was elected to the 4th Seanad Éireann in 1943 by the Labour Panel, and was re-elected at the 1944 Seanad election. He died in office on 18 September 1947.^[1]

His son Fintan Kennedy was also a trade union official and senator.^[9]

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