As a Sector Organiser with SIPTU, Greg Ennis knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of collective bargaining … a strength Meath GAA has certainly never lacked! A familiar face at Meath matches around the country, Greg is part of family boasting strong hurling ties. His father Tommy hurled for both Athboy and Meath for many years and his two sons are carrying on that proud tradition today, with Aaron featuring at full forward on the Royal County side that captured the 2011 All-Ireland 'B' MHC. We simply had to investigate further…

As national organisations that represent the ordinary man, SIPTU and the GAA have a great deal in common, not least of which is the massive overlap in membership. Having been involved in SIPTU for 25 years and also hailing from a fervent GAA family, Greg Ennis embodies the spirit, camaraderie and integrity that pervades both bodies.

Greg is Sector Organiser at national level for SIPTU's energy sector, which incorporates semi-state bodies like ESB, Bord na Mona, Bord Gais, Coillte and Inland Fisheries Ireland as well as a plethora of private sector energy companies. Heading up the energy sector, he has direct responsibility for 3,000 SIPTU members.
Having worked with SIPTU for 13 years in both the private and public sector, Greg has been Sector Organiser for energy since SIPTU was restructured almost two years ago. "The energy sector is part of the Utilities and Construction Division, which includes Tara Mines - Meath's largest employer," he notes.

Regarding the representation of Meath employees within his own specific sector, Greg explains: "It's fragmented and spread through the county and, indeed, the entire country. But we would represent, for example, ESB staff, who are employed in Meath as well as Bord na Mona in Ballivor. I represent the members at local and national level, ensuring that workers are organised in our trade union, that they have a collective voice and that the terms and conditions of their employment are protected and enhanced where at all possible."

Presumably, membership has fallen significantly since the recession kicked in as droves of people found themselves out of work due to the sheer recklessness of Ireland's politicians, bankers and speculators? "We had over 200,000 members in the thirty-two counties but that's down to 185,000 now. However, trade union density has increased because many of the jobs lost were non Union, as Unionised jobs are better protected, hence the benefit of being organised in a Trade Union such as SIPTU."

"SIPTU has adopted a strategic approach to the economic downturn and in many cases our members have had to take difficult decisions in furtherance of stabilising their employments rather than face redundancy situations, which regrettably is an all too common phenomena in Ireland in recent years and which has affected many GAA club teams in Meath and indeed throughout Ireland.

"The facility for 'Collective Bargaining' is fundamental to workers in Ireland. It addresses the unequal balance of power that exists between workers and employers where such bargaining agreements exist. It is unacceptable that as we approach the 100th anniversary of the '1913 Lock-Out' that the legal right for all workers to 'Collective Bargaining' is not enshrined in law as it is across Europe. There are however, commitments in the current Programme for Government to legislate for the right to collective bargaining, which would mean that employers would have to recognise employees' rights to utilise collective bargaining, with trade unions being recognised specifically for that purpose."

Is there not a possibility that the government will backtrack on this, however? "It's a promise and a commitment and SIPTU will do all in its power to make sure it is delivered upon."
Greg became a SIPTU shop steward while working at NEC Semiconductors (who employed 600 people in their prime) in 1986 and was an activist for twelve years before becoming a full-time SIPTU Official in 1998. He served as Branch Secretary for twelve years in Kildare, Longford/Westmeath and Dublin and was subsequently appointed Sector Organiser in 2010.

Of the many different disputes that he has been involved in over the years, the successful industrial and strike action against the decentralisation of FAS Head Office in 2006 was the biggest success so far, a victory that resulted in four hundred FAS workers being able to stay working in Dublin. Would-be GAA president Christy Cooney sat in the opposite corner to Greg in that dispute, as he was Assistant Director General for FAS at the time. "While we might have had a lot in common in the GAA, we were in different dug-outs in that dispute and it was a big, big win for SIPTU and its members, It's not that often that I would want the Dubs to be victorious!" the Meath man notes.

Greg was born into a GAA family, his father Tommy having hurled with Meath for seven years, winning five county senior hurling championships with Athboy between 1966 and '72. Greg played underage hurling at club and county level. Greg keeps fit these days through cycling and in May of this year (with close friend Paul Smith) completed the 700km Mizen Head to Malin Head Charity Cycle for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and raised significant funds in the process. His wife Helen played for many years with St. Munna's Camogie Club in Westmeath and also served as secretary of the Clann na Gael juvenile club in Athboy for three years.

Their oldest son Shane Ennis represented Meath at all grades of underage hurling and also featured in underage football with Meath and has been ever-present with the club, representing Clann na Gael at U21 and senior levels in 2011. Younger son Aaron has played football and hurling with club and county all the way up through the various grades, with a tremendous degree of success.

Aaron was full forward on the Meath minor hurling side that won the 2011 All-Ireland 'B' MHC and also captained the Royal County minors in the Leinster Championship proper against Kildare. He has been playing senior hurling with his club since he turned 16, captaining them to a Division One U15 Hurling Championship in 2008. A student in Galway, Aaron also featured on the Meath minor football panel earlier this year in the Leinster minor league and he certainly appears to have the makings of a superb dual player at adult level. He also won a Leinster Vocational Schools football title this year, lining out at centre forward against Wicklow in the provincial final.

It wasn't really by chance that Aaron and Shane developed such a keen interest in Gaelic games, as Greg concedes:
"Since the boys were infants, we've taken them to all the Meath football and hurling matches and they know no different. We start every year by going to the O'Byrne Cup matches in January and then we take it from there. It's second nature to them. As a family, you could say the GAA is what motivates and excites us greatly."

To say that Greg Ennis is a GAA fanatic would be no understatement. He enthuses: "One of the proudest things I can say is that my father hurled with Sean Boylan for seven years. Sean is a true GAA legend and a fantastic ambassador for Gaelic Games, Meath and Ireland". "Sean Boylan built two great Meath teams because the side that came along in the late 1990's was a different team entirely. To win four All-Irelands in twelve years was an incredible feat of management".

"For me, the four-games against Dublin in 1991 matched, if not surpassed, any of the seven All-Irelands won by Meath. To come out on top in that epic saga was extraordinary. That was the pinnacle for me in all the years I've supported Meath. There was no All-Ireland at the end of it, unfortunately, but beating the Dubs that year was very special. '87 and '88 were the first two All-Ireland wins I witnessed and then '96 and '99 were also fantastic."

"At club level, for Clann na Gael to have an All-Ireland winning captain like Graham Geraghty and Meath 'Player of the Year' Shane McAnarney here is great; the presence of those two lads has and will spur the younger players on to greater things on the football field in the years ahead and maybe senior football is not that far away. Men like Matthew Mullen, Christopher McGovern and Brendan Fitzsimons have given unbelievable dedication to coaching our young hurlers in the club resulting in the likes of Ciaran Fitzsimons captaining the Meath Minors this year to All-Ireland glory. These lads make huge sacrifices and invest a lot of personal time and effort, which has to be acknowledged. With such dedicated coaching and endeavor I would be optimistic that the Hurlers will bounce back to the senior ranks in the next twelve months and on to greater things thereafter for sure".
When you have a man like Greg Ennis singing your praises and fighting your corner, you are in good hands!

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