Historical Directory of Trade Unions
Historical Directory of Trade Unions
John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter
Foreword by Christine Coates
Volume 6
Including unions in Building and Construction, Agriculture, Fishing, Chemicals, Wood and Woodworking, Transport, Engineering and Metal Working, Government, Civil and Public Service, Energy and Extraction in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Shipbuilding
First published 2009
by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright 2009 John B. Smethurst
John B. Smethurst has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Historical directory of trade unions Vol. 6: Including unions in building
and construction, agriculture, fishing, chemicals, wood and woodworking,
transport, engineering and metal working, government, civil and public service,
shipbuilding, energy and extraction in the United Kingdom and Ireland
1. Labor unions - Great Britain - Directories 2. Labor unions - Great
Britain - History 3. Labor union members - Great Britain - Biography
I. Smethurst, John B. II. Carter, Peter
331.8'8'02541
Library of Congress Control Number : PCN 80-151653
ISBN 9780754666837 (hbk)
Contents
When I was approached by Peter Carter to write a foreword to volume 6, I confess to feeling daunted at the idea of following in the footsteps of Lord Asa Briggs who introduced the previous volumes in this remarkable series. But then who better to confirm the essential usefulness of this irreplaceable resource, than a librarian who sees these books in daily use!
I am astonished at the enormity of the task facing the succession of editors of this series in recording the names and histories of the thousands of organisations which working people have formed and joined not only to protect themselves, but to change the society in which they live. In the UK, tens of millions of people have been members and 5,000 trade unions are known to have existed at one time or another. The peak year seems to have been 1896, when 1358 unions were registered. John Gorman, in his book Banner Bright , records that scores of societies were represented on the 1896 May Day March in London carrying 20,000 worth of banners. The numbers of unions in existence has decreased each decade since then, but in 1940, there were still over 1000 unions, only 223 of which were affiliated to the Trades Union Congress.
This volume provides additional information on entries in earlier volumes plus new records. I am pleased to see the inclusion of more Irish records. Northern Ireland today is the region with the highest union density c.40 per cent of employees. For similar reasons, it is especially useful to have the new large section on government unions, which dominate current union activity with some 60 per cent of public sector employees unionised and similarly 60 per cent of all union members now working in the public sector. In 1920, there were only two civil service unions and four post office unions affiliated to the TUC: yet the same year, the union leader W.J. Brown claimed there were over 200 organisations in the Civil Service covering just 370,000 staff. Many new ones had been established during the First World War to take advantage of arbitration facilities, and many more formed afterwards to seek protection for their members through the national and departmental Whitley Councils notably in the post office, civil service and Royal Dockyards. Many of these organisations failed or merged with sturdier outfits, but since the Second World War waves of professional bodies and staff associations in the health, education and other sectors have adopted more traditional union roles with the tightening and hardening of management practice.
I suspect that when this series first appeared in 1984, it was intended primarily for academic researchers in labour and social history. That readership is still there, but it has been supplemented in recent years by the vast army of family historians who visit our library and others like it, to search the Historical Directory for that obscure organisation to which their ancestor belonged or to identify the initials on a badge found in the attic. Now that genealogy is popular and no longer restricted to the great and good, research tools like this can reveal a different aspect of an individuals life and allow those who may never have used archives before to access a wider range of resources.
Trade unions have played, and will continue to play a decisive role in shaping economic and social developments in Britain yet much of their history is still unknown and inaccessible to their members and to the general public. Unions were involved in the creation of the welfare state and public health, education and social services. They have ensured legal rights in employment and an end to discrimination. The Labour Party was established by unions so that working people could have their own representatives in Parliament. Unions have played a key part in international affairs and their representatives have sat on public bodies and government advisory groups at national and international levels. This series of volumes has allowed us to connect with the working lives of our predecessors. Remembering and perhaps, more importantly, learning from our history should inform our strategies and policymaking for the future.
Christine Coates
Librarian TUC Collections
London Metropolitan University
As I write this preface to volume 6, I am somewhat relieved to see the end of this project in sight. When I joined Arthur Marshs team of researchers for the Historical Directory of Trade Unions in 1987, volume 1 had already been published and volume 2 was under preparation, little did I realise that twenty years later I would just be completing the original projected forecast of 6 volumes. The death of Victoria Ryan, Arthurs research worker in 1992, slowed down the projected time scale and with the death of Arthur Ivor Marsh, MA. OBE. in late 1999 the project, like so many others may well have foundered. I was left with several boxes of papers and a letter of suggestions on how I should complete the remaining 2 volumes of the projected 6 volumes. With the completion of this volume I feel I have fulfilled my obligation to Arthur and can now get on with the retirement I once promised myself. I have only been able to sustain this labour of love because of my deep-seated commitment to Labour History.
Volume 6 contains Engineering and Metal Working that includes sections on Sheet Metal; Iron and Steel; Lock; Wire; Smiths and Farriers; and Vehicle Builders. The section on Government Departments, deals with Ministerial Unions, covered by the Whitley Councils, Civil and Public Servants; Shipbuilding; Energy and Extraction (which I hope now satisfies the Mining Historians Group criticism of the small number of unions listed in the coal contribution in volume 2). It is a mopping up of things that were missed in earlier volumes notably the Irish Union on the British Registry prior to 1922. Many British conglomerate unions continue to operate in Ireland and a more up to coverage of unions that operate in Ireland has been made. An attempt has been to bring everything up to date as far we are aware. Any mistakes or error are mine.
