Delight as Athy man appointed to SIPTU senior position
Adrian Kane
There was local delight as Kildare’s Adrian Kane was elected as SIPTU Deputy General Secretary.
The Kildare Trades Council extended its warmest congratulations to Adrian Kane, a native of Athy his election as Deputy General Secretary of SIPTU, Ireland's largest trade union.
Representing ICTU-affiliated trade unions across County Kildare in both the public and private sectors, the council recognises Mr Kane's election as a significant achievement for both SIPTU and the wider trade union movement.
Speaking on behalf of the Council, Secretary Norman Croke said: "I have known Adrian since he was a young man growing up in Athy. He comes from a family with deep roots in the Kildare trade union movement and, from an early age, demonstrated a strong commitment to social justice and workers' rights. As an active member of Kildare Labour Youth, he was an articulate advocate for trade union recognition, fair pay and decent working conditions."
Mr Kane continued his trade union activism while employed by Bord na Móna in Newbridge, where he became an active member of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU). His commitment to public service also saw him elected as one of the youngest members of Kildare County Council.
His appointment as a full-time SIPTU official in 1995 marked the beginning of a distinguished career spanning more than 30 years. Throughout that time, he has represented workers across both the public and private sectors.
He led SIPTU’s Public Administration and Community Division between 2017 and 2023 and was a member of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Public Services Committee during that period. He led the Division during the Building Momentum national pay negotiations in 2021 and initiated the Valuing Care, Valuing Community campaign, which helped community-sector workers secure pay increases in 2022 and 2023.
His other experience includes leading the Union’s response to the Tara Mines lockout, organising workers in the domestic waste sector and campaigning for the establishment of a dedicated transport police service. He currently serves as SIPTU’s Services Divisional Organiser.
Mr Kane said: “It will be an honour to serve on the Officer Board of SIPTU. The world of work has been transformed in this digitalised age, but technological change need not be a one-way street, workers’ best opportunity to shape their workplace and share in the benefits of new technology is by unionising.” Mr Kane has also contributed to the intellectual development of the trade union movement through his publication, Trade Unions, in which he sets out a vision of organised labour as a vital force for social justice, economic progress and workplace democracy.
The council say his election comes at a pivotal time for workers and their unions as they respond to rapid changes in the world of work, including technological change, the growth of precarious employment and the implementation of new collective bargaining rights.
Mr Kane now joins a distinguished tradition of Kildare trade union leaders who have made an outstanding contribution to the Irish labour movement, including Frank Purcell, General Secretary of the ITGWU; William Norton, General Secretary of the Post Office Workers' Union and later Tánaiste; and Jack O'Connor, former SIPTU General President.
"Kildare has every reason to be proud," Mr Croke added. "Adrian's election reflects not only his own outstanding abilities but also the proud tradition of trade union leadership that has emerged from this county. SIPTU, and indeed the wider trade union movement, is in safe and capable hands."
