by Seamus Roche
When
Con and I grew up in Moyvane together in the sixties, the world,
it appears to me, was a much different place. The Summers were
longer, warmer, drier and the Winters with floods and storms
and the seasonal good coat of snow. (Winter now seems to be
with us all year round). The Glin Road where we lived had its
fair share of thatched houses, motorcars were few, and the bark
of a distant dog or the rocking of a donkey and cart or the
ring of the hammer on the anvil in the forge were the loudest
noises to be heard.
The old Murhur School, built in 1888 was the biggest landmark (apart
from the Church and Water Tower) and a hive of activity during the
school year. After school, most of the youngsters in the Glin Road
played football, hurling, (believe it or not) handball and other
games in the school yard, scampering into Kearney’s field and hiding
among the rushes as soon as Master Callaghan or the Parish Priest
appeared.
Our biggest crime and greatest thrill was robbing orchards, hitching
lifts on the back of hay carts, and climbing to the top of the Water
Tower, sometimes the highlight of the day. Most people didn’t have
a lot of money but people corred to save the turf and the hay, and
helped each other in hours of need. They shared the little they
had, and their troubles. The sixties were a good time to be a child,
and Moyvane wasn’t a bad place at all to grow up in.
In the mid to late sixties, thankfully it had become more common
for children leaving the National School to go to Secondary School.
Before that many worked locally for a few years and then hit the
boat for England and others parts of the Globe. That was the time
when the Irish economy was weak and our greatest export was our
young people. In our time a number of people went to Boarding School
but the vast majority headed for Listowel and were distributed between
St. Michael’s College, the Presentation Convent and the Technical
School, now the Community School. Con and I and many more from the
Glin Road, the rest of the village and the country went to the Tech,
cycling there for the first two years and thereafter on the bus
when public transport was introduced. The Tech at the time may not
have been regarded as the “in” place to go, but in my time there
were many fine teachers none more influential than the Principal,
Paddy Drummond, who seemed to have taken a personal interest in
every single student. He went to extraordinary lengths to make sure
that they completed their education and were in a position to compete
with anyone for the best jobs available at the time. There are many
in Moyvane who benefitted from Paddy Drummond’s caring approach;
indeed there are many throughout North Kerry who will always be
thankful to him. He was a modern day career guidance teacher. There
were good times, in the comings and goings and learning a bit at
the Tech.
Con and I joined the Department of Post and Telegraphs as Trainee
Technicians in 1969. We went by train from Limerick and stayed with
my Uncle Paddy and his wife Kathy. We duly reported to the Training
Division in Dublin Castle to sign up as Civil Servants. I would
have been 171/2 or thereabouts, and Con, about a year younger. I
stayed a week, but had no option of becoming an apprentice Fitter
in Tarbert power Station, so I left to join the ESB. Con remained
on but low and behold, a fortnight later, the Department discovered
that he was a week too young, and in true Civil Service fashion,
was sent home. At the time, our parents found it hard to believe
anything other than those two were sent home for devilment.
Con went back to the Tech; a year later he joined the P&T (Post
& Telegraphs) again as a Trainee Technician and qualified three
years later. In those days, you joined the Union on your first day
and it was then the Irish Post Office Engineering Union. Slowly
but surely he became involved in its day to day activities. This
led him on a path that was to take him from being Branch Secretary
of the smallest branch in the Union in Listowel, to General Secretary
of the Communications Workers Union which was formed in 1990 with
the amalgamation of the two major Unions in AN Post and Telecom
Eireann. When the new Union (CWU) was formed in 1990, Con was its
first Vice President and later that year was appointed to a full-time
position of Assistant General Secretary.
This was a major turning point in his career. No longer would he
be subject to vagaries of annual election and the political wheeling
and dealing which attends this activity of which incidentally he
was the acknowledged master. After all, here was a man, who as a
member of the Listowel Branch of the CUI, one of the smallest branches
in the Union numbering about 25 members or so, who successfully
contested the highest elected office as President of the Union on
five occasions, a remarkable achievement by any standard. However,
the elevation to Assistant General Secretary was not without its
cost, and Con and his family soon departed their beloved North Kerry,
heading for the metropolis on the East Coast, eventually stopping
at Ashbourne (Co. Meath) to re-establish the Scanlon household.
Over the course of the next five years or so, he was intimately
involved in negotiating many of the major changes which Telecom
Eireann (latterly “Eircom”) underwent , particularly in the areas
of technology and computerisation advancements, and also in developing
a new Sales and Marketing operation within the company. He became
renouned, some would say feared, as a wily and tough negotiator
and a master tactician. It was an apprenticeship, which would stand
him in good stead some years later.
In 1997, discussions began with Telecom Eireann on a new Transformation
Agreement designed to radically change work practices and to position
the company to respond to the expected onslaught which would be
the inevitable consequence of liberalisation and increased competition
in the telecommunications market. The Union’s response to this challenge
was both imaginative and ground breaking in an Irish context. It
proposed the establishment of an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP).
This was to acquire 14.9% ownership in the company for the workers.
This plan floundered and the difficulties were compounded by the
departure of Con’s predecessor.
Con’s first major task after securing his new position of General
Secretary in July 1998 was to get negotiations back on track. He
made a tactical decision to alter course, and having to deal with
financial stockbrokers, legal advisors, Government Departments,
intense media pressure and open hostility from those ideologically
opposed to workers shareholding in their own company, he rose to
the occasion and secured the 14.9% shareholding for the workers.
The successful conclusion to the deal was partly due to the rapport
that he built on with the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mary O’Rourke,
who recognised him as a straight-talking, trustworthy and honourable
negotiator.
For his sins, he is currently Chairman of the Eircom ESOP Trustee,
the company established to manage and administer the 14.9% holding
in Eircom, which at current share price, is worth in excess of IR£1
billion.
Internally within the Union, he faced another important challenge
to develop his knowledge and understanding of the Postal Industry.
Foreseeing the major transformation that the Postal Industry was
about to undergo, just as the Telecommunications industry before
it had, he set about developing a new vision for the Union in An
Post. While continuing to hold on tightly to the core principles
and values of the Union, he is seeking to develop a new and radical
approach to dealing with the major change which the Postal Industry
is about to undergo. Familiar themes of Partnership, Change and
ESOP are all part of his plan, but he is equally realistic about
the scale of the challenge. His quote “A different culture operates
in the Post Office, and the enormity of the adjustment required,
needs to be recognised. I believe that there are opportunities for
us to make these adjustments and to reward people for their contribution
to making the enterprise successful” recognises the problems ahead
but few would doubt his ability to get the best deal possible for
his members.
Far from being content to sit back and rest on his accomplishments,
he has plans afoot to expand the sphere of influence of the Union
within the Communications Industry. The Union is now actively engaged
in recruiting workers in other parts of the Industry, such as Call
Centres, Couriers, and other Telecommunications companies. Con’s
schedule continues to be a busy one. He is a member of the Executive
Committee (of ICTU, which was involved in drawing up the Programme
for Prosperity and Fairness between Government and the Social partners
recently. On top of this he has extensive commitments in the International
Trade Union arena, and is currently Ireland’s representative on
the Union Network International -European Committee, which is an
affiliate organisation of over 14 million members world-wide, representing
workers in the Communications, Banking, Clerical, Print, Media and
Entertainment sectors.
Looking back it seems a long way removed from childhood days playing
in the old School Yard in Moyvane or that first day in ’69 when
we crossed the road at the ‘Castle to catch the No.22 bus for Drimnagh
only to find ourselves in Drumcondra. (Since then neither of us
caught a bus going in the wrong direction). But you get the feeling
that Con’s achievements are in some part at least due to the magic
that Newtown casts upon its natives.
 Con Scanlon (left) with Stephen Brophy Executive Assistant to General Secretary) |
As General Secretary Con has overall responsibility for union strategy, finance, organisation and communications. He is Principle Staff Representative in An Post and eircom and is also Chairman of the eircom and An Post ESOP Trustees.
He represents the union on the Executive Council of ICTU and is also a member of the Union Network International Europa Committe and participates in the Social Dialogue Committees with UNI and the European Commission.
