Suspensions at Mandate

A member of Mandate’s National Executive Committee (NEC) who was re-running for her role at the union’s upcoming Biennial Delegate Conference (BDC) has alleged that she has been suspended in a campaign targeting particular candidates.

Brenda Histon, who is from Cork and has been a member of Mandate for 22 years, and a member of the NEC since 2024, has alleged she and four other candidates were suspended for trying to highlight malpractice by staff and elected members of the NEC.

Mandate stated the members were suspended for “social media activity”.

The members - who were all candidates for either the NEC or Standing Orders committee - have been barred from attending the BDC, and are unable to seek representation from Mandate for the duration of their suspensions.

They are still being charged membership dues.

Histon said a number of other members who were not running for positions at the BDC had also been disciplined, but it had included cease and desist letters, rather than suspensions.

She said she and others had attempted to raise issues such as the salary of the union’s General Secretary Lorraine O’Brien, the amount of money spent on legal professionals, and money used in settlements with members who previously brought complaints against the union.

Histon said that attempts to raise these questions at an NEC level had seen them “blocked in every way we can go”.

Histon claimed the investigation was not carried out in line with Mandate procedures.

She said the suspension of all five members was done without sanction, and the first that they heard of the suspensions was at a regular meeting of the NEC.

“No investigation, nothing. I had to ask ‘What exactly are you accusing me of?’ and he just said ‘Social media activity’, and that was it,” she said.

She said she thinks this involved liking the Facebook post of another suspended Cork NEC candidate Mark Hayes.

Mandate’s rule book states members must be made aware of complaints against them no less than one month before the issue is heard by a meeting of the NEC.

She claimed Mandate has been ignoring their appeals to drag them out past the BDC.

She said the suspensions are part of an ongoing campaign to prevent change within the union, which she claims is causing it to decline to the point of being unsalvageable.

“Our numbers have fallen by half, something like 40,000 down to 20,000. And this is a trend that’s definitely continuing.

“There needs to be change on the NEC. If you don’t have people around the table who are willing to do what they know is right, then the whole thing is just going to fall,” she said.

Mandate has been contacted for comment.