From Croke Park to pitched battles in Thatcherite Britain
FROM kicking some of the first points ever televised live from Croke Park to taking on the British establishment as a trade union leader throughout the Thatcher era, John Flavin’s life has been eventful to say the least.
Some fellows seem to have a knack for always being at the centre of things and Ballylongford man John - London Kerry Person of the Year 2009 - is a shining example of the kind.
A champion of the underdog who held every position bar general secretary in the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT), including President from 1993 until 1995, Flavin lays out his exciting life story in new book To Fight is To Win.
Very much like the man, it’s a no-nonsense read getting straight to the meat - from his childhood to the scrappy world of trade unionism in late 20th Century Britain.
Bally reads like a kind of paradise in the book - hard work leavened by family and an extremely close-knit community in which John came to prominence as a major athlete in his youth.
As a Kerry minor, John scored the first points ever televised live by RTÉ from Croke Park; in the 1962 All-Ireland semi final against Offaly (before going on to win the championship against Mayo on the same day the seniors took gold).
He took the winning fight from the pitch in Ireland to the building sites of Britain after following his siblings to London in 1963 at the outset of a career that would bring him the acclaim of his peers and some notoriety a la the establishment’s bitter conflict with organised labour.
Steeped in the politics of the Labour movement from his earliest years (his grandfather was a passionate follower of James Connolly and the family were about the only Labour party supporters in Bally at the time) he arrived in the UK with a far deeper appreciation of the workings of capital than most young Irish immigrants.
That knowledge, combined with his innate communication skills and and zeal for helping others less well off soon saw John active in trade unionism.
A talented representative, his first sacrifice for his fellow workers came in his blacklisting for organising pickets in London during the three-month long construction strike of ‘73.
Working piecemeal jobs alongside downat-heel navvies while blacklisted only further increased his determination to fight for better pay and conditions and he was soon back in the game. After keeping the head down for a few years he found himself UCATT regional organiser for Northwest London by 1976 and began contesting council elections for Labour.
He played a key role in consolidating UCATT’s position as the leading union of the industry into the 1980s as well as introducing vital health and safety procedures in the industry that eventually curbed shocking workplace fatality rates.
Through it all he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Tony Benn, Tony Blair, Dick Spring, John Hume, Seamus Mallon and great Kerry builders like John Murphy to name but a few. One of his lowest points came in his ‘David versus Goliath’ moment when he found his name blackened in the trade and national press over suggestions he played a part in the mismanagement of UCATT dues, but displaying the trademark Flavin spirit he finally cleared his name after a five-year fight.