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144-570: In 1995, under the leadership of Tony Blair , a new Clause IV was adopted. This was seen as a significant moment in Blair's redefinition of the party as New Labour , but has in the years since survived beyond the New Labour branding. The original version of Clause IV was drafted by Sidney and Beatrice Webb in November 1917, and adopted by the party in 1918. It read, in part 4: To secure for

288-699: A 1 ⁄ 6 -shekel per day freight rate for a 60-gur vessel. In 1816, an archaeological excavation in Minya, Egypt (under an Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire) produced a Nerva–Antonine dynasty -era tablet from the ruins of the Temple of Antinous in Antinoöpolis , that prescribed the rules and membership dues of a burial society collegium established in Lanuvium , in approximately 133 AD during

432-466: A product and had control over his life and work. As industrial workers, however, the workers sold their work as labour and took directions from employers, giving up part of their freedom and self-agency in the service of a master. The critics of the new arrangement would call this " wage slavery ", but the term that persisted was a new form of human relations: employment. Unlike farmers, workers often had less control over their jobs; without job security or

576-515: A "democratic socialist" himself in the same year. However, the move away from nationalisation in the old Clause IV made many on the left wing of the Labour Party feel that Labour was moving away from traditional socialist principles of nationalisation set out in 1918, and was seen by them as part of a shift of the party towards "New Labour". Blair inherited the Labour leadership at a time when

720-598: A "plot" to make Britain multicultural. There was no plot." Trade union A trade union ( British English ) or labor union ( American English ), often simply referred to as a union , is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment , such as attaining better wages and benefits , improving working conditions, improving safety standards, establishing complaint procedures, developing rules governing status of employees (rules governing promotions, just-cause conditions for termination) and protecting and increasing

864-426: A 2-shekel prevailing wage for each 60-gur (300- bushel ) vessel constructed in an employment contract between a shipbuilder and a ship-owner. Law 275 stipulated a ferry rate of 3- gerah per day on a charterparty between a ship charterer and a shipmaster. Law 276 stipulated a 2 1 ⁄ 2 -gerah per day freight rate on a contract of affreightment between a charterer and shipmaster, while Law 277 stipulated

1008-487: A Sierra Leone rebel group. Journalist Andrew Marr has argued that the success of ground attacks, real and threatened, over air strikes alone was influential on how Blair planned the Iraq War, and that the success of the first three wars Blair fought "played to his sense of himself as a moral war leader". When asked in 2010 if the success of Palliser may have "embolden[ed] British politicians" to think of military action as

1152-482: A blend of these two philosophies, and the definitions of the models themselves are still debated. Informal workers often face unique challenges when trying to participate in trade union movements as formal trade union organizations recognized by the state and employers may not accommodate for the employment categories common in the informal economy. Simultaneously, the lack of regular work locations and loopholes relating to false self-employment add barriers and costs for

1296-540: A break with its 1983 Manifesto (dubbed " the longest suicide note in history ", by Gerald Kaufman , one of the party's MPs), in which greater state ownership was proposed. The leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020, Jeremy Corbyn , was a consistent supporter of renationalising public utilities , such as British Rail and energy companies , to bring them back into public ownership . Corbyn ignited controversy within his party in an interview with The Independent on Sunday : "I think we should talk about what

1440-632: A century (and Marx's writings themselves frequently address the prior existence of the workers' movements of his time.) The first recorded labour strike in the United States was by Philadelphia printers in 1786, who opposed a wage reduction and demanded $ 6 per week in wages. The origins of modern trade unions can be traced back to 18th-century Britain, where the Industrial Revolution drew masses of people, including dependents , peasants and immigrants, into cities. Britain had ended

1584-575: A federation of different unions that did not directly enrol workers. In 1886, it became known as the American Federation of Labor or AFL. In Germany, the Free Association of German Trade Unions was formed in 1897 after the conservative Anti-Socialist Laws of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck were repealed. In France, labour organisation was illegal until the 1884 Waldeck Rousseau laws . The Fédération des bourses du travail

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1728-630: A heart attack on 12 May 1994. Blair defeated John Prescott and Margaret Beckett in the subsequent leadership election and became Leader of the Opposition . As is customary for the holder of that office, Blair was appointed a Privy Counsellor . It has long been rumoured a deal was struck between Blair and Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown at the former Granita restaurant in Islington , in which Blair promised to give Brown control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in

1872-694: A historic rebranding of the party, which became known as " New Labour ". Blair became the youngest prime minister of the 20th century after his party won a landslide victory of 418 seats (the largest in its history) in the 1997 general election , bringing an end to 18 years in the opposition. It was the first victory for the Labour Party in nearly 23 years, the last one being in October 1974 . During his first term , Blair enacted constitutional reforms and significantly increased public spending on healthcare and education while also introducing controversial market-based reforms in these areas. In addition, Blair saw

2016-532: A leadership election in which Brown was the only candidate. At a special party conference in Manchester on 24 June 2007, Blair formally handed over the leadership of the Labour Party to Brown, who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in Blair's three ministries. Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister on 27 June and Brown assumed office the same afternoon. Blair resigned from his Sedgefield seat in

2160-705: A number of occasions and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) endorsed Ronald Reagan in 1980. In the United Kingdom trade union movement's relationship with the Labour Party frayed as party leadership embarked on privatization plans at odds with what unions see as the worker's interests. However, it has strengthened once more after the Labour party's election of Ed Miliband , who beat his brother David Miliband to become leader of

2304-475: A policy option, General Sir David Richards admitted there "might be something in that". From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported the foreign policy of George W. Bush , participating in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq . The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it. As

2448-659: A political party intended to represent the interests of the working class. Typically, this is a left-wing , socialist , or social democratic party, but many exceptions exist, including some of the aforementioned Christian unions. In the United States, trade unions are almost always aligned with the Democratic Party with a few exceptions. For example, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has supported Republican Party candidates on

2592-506: A profile within the party. Despite his defeat, William Russell, political correspondent for The Glasgow Herald , described Blair as "a very good candidate", while acknowledging that the result was "a disaster" for the Labour Party. In contrast to his later centrism , Blair made it clear in a letter he wrote to Labour leader Michael Foot in July 1982 (published in 2006) that he had "come to Socialism through Marxism" and considered himself on

2736-436: A promise of an on-going relationship with their employers, they lacked some control over the work they performed or how it impacted their health and life. It is in this context that modern trade unions emerge. In the cities, trade unions encountered much hostility from employers and government groups. In the United States, unions and unionists were regularly prosecuted under various restraint of trade and conspiracy laws, such as

2880-668: A range of socialists from Owenites to revolutionaries and played a part in the protests after the Tolpuddle Martyrs ' case, but soon collapsed. More permanent trade unions were established from the 1850s, better resourced but often less radical. The London Trades Council was founded in 1860, and the Sheffield Outrages spurred the establishment of the Trades Union Congress in 1868, the first long-lived national trade union center . By this time,

3024-526: A result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. Alastair Campbell described Blair's statement that the intelligence on WMDs was "beyond doubt" as his "assessment of the assessment that was given to him." In 2009, Blair stated that he would have supported removing Saddam Hussein from power even in the face of proof that he had no such weapons. Playwright Harold Pinter and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad accused Blair of war crimes. Testifying before

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3168-409: A result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. The Iraq Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War. As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair was accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity dropped dramatically. Blair won a third term after Labour won a third election victory in 2005 , in part thanks to

3312-593: A second term after Labour won a second landslide victory in the 2001 general election . Three months into his second term , Blair's premiership was shaped by the 9/11 terrorist attacks , resulting in the start of the war on terror . Blair supported the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration by ensuring that the British Armed Forces participated in the War in Afghanistan to overthrow

3456-490: A single 30-minute session on Wednesdays. In addition to PMQs, Blair held monthly press conferences at which he fielded questions from journalists and, from 2002, broke precedent by agreeing to give evidence twice yearly before the most senior Commons select committee, the Liaison Committee . Blair was sometimes perceived as paying insufficient attention both to the views of his own Cabinet colleagues and to those of

3600-467: A source of optimism, as they indicated that the Conservatives were in decline. Virtually every opinion poll since late-1992 put Labour ahead of the Conservatives with enough support to form an overall majority. Blair became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 2 May 1997; aged 43, he was the youngest person to reach that office since Lord Liverpool became prime minister aged 42 in 1812. He

3744-470: A strengthening of the position of Labour Party members who were opposed to Marxism . Tony Blair had in 1993, before becoming Leader of the Labour Party, written a pamphlet for the Fabian Society which criticised the wording of Clause IV for not clearly stating the means and ends of the party. Blair put forward a case for re-defining socialism in terms of a set of values which were constant, while

3888-406: A strong economy, with real incomes of British citizens growing 18% between 1997 and 2006. Britain saw rapid productivity growth and significant GDP growth, as well as falling poverty rates and inequality which, despite stubbornly failing to fall, stalled thanks to New Labour's economic policies (such as tax credits). Despite the financial bubble developing in the property markets, studies have credited

4032-465: A trade union is "an organisation consisting predominantly of employees, the principal activities of which include the negotiation of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members". Recent historical research by Bob James puts forward the view that trade unions are part of a broader movement of benefit societies , which includes medieval guilds , Freemasons , Oddfellows , friendly societies , and other fraternal organizations . Following

4176-517: A union are binding on the rank-and-file members and the employer, and in some cases on other non-member workers. Trade unions traditionally have a constitution which details the governance of their bargaining unit and also have governance at various levels of government depending on the industry that binds them legally to their negotiations and functioning. Originating in the United Kingdom , trade unions became popular in many countries during

4320-525: Is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He

4464-485: Is globalization, which makes it harder for unions to maintain standards across countries. The last reason is governmental policies. These come from both sides of the political spectrum. In the UK and US, it has been mostly right-wing proposals that make it harder for unions to form or that limit their power. On the other side, there are many social policies such as minimum wage , paid vacation , parental leave, etc., that decrease

Clause IV - Misplaced Pages Continue

4608-489: Is supported by the far-right BNP . In Denmark, there are some newer apolitical "discount" unions who offer a very basic level of services, as opposed to the dominating Danish pattern of extensive services and organizing. In contrast, in several European countries (e.g. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland ), religious unions have existed for decades. These unions typically distanced themselves from some of

4752-414: Is that a trade union "is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment". Karl Marx described trade unions thus: "The value of labour-power constitutes the conscious and explicit foundation of the trade unions, whose importance for the ... working class can scarcely be overestimated. The trade unions aim at nothing less than to prevent

4896-425: Is the second- longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher , the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories. Blair attended the independent school Fettes College , studied law at St John's College, Oxford , and qualified as a barrister. He became involved in

5040-547: The 1820 Rising in Scotland, in which 60,000 workers went on a general strike , which was soon crushed. Sympathy for the plight of the workers brought repeal of the acts in 1824, although the Combination Act 1825 restricted their activity to bargaining for wage increases and changes in working hours. By the 1810s, the first labour organizations to bring together workers of divergent occupations were formed. Possibly

5184-502: The 1983 general election was called. Blair's initial inquiries discovered that the left was trying to arrange the selection for Les Huckfield , sitting MP for Nuneaton, who was trying elsewhere; several sitting MPs displaced by boundary changes were also interested in it. When he discovered the Trimdon branch had not yet made a nomination, Blair visited them and won the support of the branch secretary John Burton , and with Burton's help

5328-905: The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms . It was stressed that Denmark and Iceland were among a limited number of contracting states that continue to permit the conclusion of closed-shop agreements. The academic literature shows substantial evidence that trade unions reduce economic inequality . The economist Joseph Stiglitz has asserted that, "Strong unions have helped to reduce inequality, whereas weaker unions have made it easier for CEOs , sometimes working with market forces that they have helped shape, to increase it." Evidence indicates that those who are not members of unions also see higher wages. Researchers suggest that unions set industrial norms as firms try to stop further unionization or losing workers to better-paying competitors. The decline in unionization since

5472-947: The Good Friday Agreement (after 30 years of conflict) was widely recognised. Following the Omagh bombing on 15 August 1998, by members of the Real IRA opposed to the peace process, which killed 29 people and wounded hundreds, Blair visited the County Tyrone town and met with victims at Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast . In his first six years in office, Blair ordered British troops into combat five times, more than any other prime minister in British history. This included Iraq in both 1998 and 2003 , Kosovo (1999), Sierra Leone (2000) and Afghanistan (2001). The Kosovo War, which Blair had advocated on moral grounds,

5616-606: The Home Office to deport illegal immigrants. Amid the Cash-for-Honours scandal , Blair was interviewed three times as prime minister, though only as a witness and not under caution . The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued, and in 2006, Blair announced he would resign within a year. He resigned the party leadership on 24 June 2007 and as prime minister on 27 June, and was succeeded by Gordon Brown , his chancellor . After leaving office, Blair gave up his seat and

5760-489: The House of Commons on 6 July 1983, Blair stated, "I am a socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral. It stands for cooperation, not confrontation; for fellowship, not fear. It stands for equality." Once elected, Blair's political ascent

5904-517: The Industrial Revolution . Trade unions may be composed of individual workers, professionals , past workers , students , apprentices or the unemployed . Trade union density, or the percentage of workers belonging to a trade union, is highest in the Nordic countries . Since the publication of the History of Trade Unionism (1894) by Sidney and Beatrice Webb , the predominant historical view

Clause IV - Misplaced Pages Continue

6048-625: The International Trade Union Confederation . However, in Japan , union organisation is slightly different due to the presence of enterprise unions, i.e. unions that are specific to a plant or company. These enterprise unions, however, join industry-wide federations which in turn are members of Rengo , the Japanese national trade union confederation. In Western Europe , professional associations often carry out

6192-697: The International Transport Workers Federation , the International Federation of Journalists , the International Arts and Entertainment Alliance and Public Services International . Union law varies from country to country, as does the function of unions. For example, German and Dutch unions have played a greater role in management decisions through participation in supervisory boards and co-determination than other countries. Moreover, in

6336-533: The Iraq Inquiry on 29 January 2010, Blair said Saddam Hussein was a "monster and I believe he threatened not just the region but the world." Blair said that British and American attitude towards Hussein had "changed dramatically" after the September 11 attacks . Blair denied that he would have supported the invasion of Iraq even if he had thought Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. He said he believed

6480-561: The Israel–Lebanon conflict . On 7 September 2006, Blair publicly stated he would step down as leader by the time of the Trades Union Congress conference held from 10 to 13 September 2007, despite promising to serve a full term during the previous general election campaign. On 10 May 2007, during a speech at the Trimdon Labour Club , Blair announced his intention to resign as both Labour leader and prime minister, triggering

6624-532: The OECD average of 35.9% in 1998 to 27.9% in the year 2018. The main reasons for these developments are a decline in manufacturing , increased globalization , and governmental policies. The decline in manufacturing is the most direct influence, as unions were historically beneficial and prevalent in the sector; for this reason, there may be an increase in developing nations as OECD nations continue to export manufacturing industries to these markets. The second reason

6768-623: The Sherman Antitrust Act . This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organized in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, and would later be an important arena for the development of trade unions. Trade unions have sometimes been seen as successors to the guilds of medieval Europe , though the relationship between the two is disputed, as the masters of the guilds employed workers (apprentices and journeymen) who were not allowed to organize. Trade unions and collective bargaining were outlawed from no later than

6912-681: The Taliban , destroy al-Qaeda , and capture Osama bin Laden . Blair supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and had the British Armed Forces participate in the Iraq War , on the inaccurate beliefs that Saddam Hussein 's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction and developed ties with al-Qaeda . The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it. As

7056-625: The World Federation of Trade Unions created in 1945. The largest trade union federation in the world is the Brussels -based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), created in 2006, which has approximately 309 affiliated organizations in 156 countries and territories, with a combined membership of 166 million. National and regional trade unions organizing in specific industry sectors or occupational groups also form global union federations , such as UNI Global , IndustriALL ,

7200-413: The bargaining power of workers. Trade unions typically fund their head office and legal team functions through regularly imposed fees called union dues . The union representatives in the workforce are usually made up of workplace volunteers who are often appointed by members through internal democratic elections. The trade union, through an elected leadership and bargaining committee, bargains with

7344-597: The introduction of a minimum wage , tuition fees for higher education, constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales , an extensive expansion of LGBT+ rights in the UK , and significant progress in the Northern Ireland peace process with the passing of the landmark Good Friday Agreement . On foreign policy, Blair oversaw British interventions in Kosovo in 1999 and Sierra Leone in 2000 , which were generally perceived to be successful. Blair won

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7488-505: The lunar new year . Companies that employ workers with a union generally operate on one of several models: An EU case concerning Italy stated that, "The principle of trade union freedom in the Italian system implies recognition of the right of the individual not to belong to any trade union ("negative" freedom of association/trade union freedom), and the unlawfulness of discrimination liable to cause harm to non-unionized employees." In

7632-576: The 1983 general election endorsed left-wing policies that Labour advocated in the early 1980s. He called for Britain to leave the EEC as early as the 1970s, though he had told his selection conference that he personally favoured continuing membership and voted "Yes" in the 1975 referendum on the subject . He opposed the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1986 but supported the ERM by 1989. He

7776-490: The 1997 election that New Labour would govern "from the radical centre", and according to one lifelong Labour Party member always described himself as a social democrat . In a 2007 opinion piece in The Guardian , left-wing commentator Neil Lawson described Blair as to the right of centre . A YouGov opinion poll in 2005 found that a small majority of British voters, including many New Labour supporters, placed Blair on

7920-680: The EU. With specific regards to Blair's LGBTQ+ reforms, Blair introduced the Civil Partnership Act 2004 which granted civil partners rights and responsibilities similar to those in civil marriages, equalised the age of consent between straight and gay couples, ended the ban on gay people serving in the British military, introduced the Gender Recognition Act 2004 which allows those with gender dysphoria to legally change their gender, repealed Section 28 , gave gay couples

8064-543: The Garter by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. At various points in his premiership, Blair was among both the most popular and most unpopular politicians in British history. As prime minister, he achieved the highest recorded approval ratings during his first few years in office but also one of the lowest ratings during and after the Iraq War. Blair is usually rated as above average in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair

8208-476: The House of Commons. His style was sometimes criticised as not that of a prime minister and head of government , which he was, but of a president and head of state, which he was not. Blair was accused of excessive reliance on spin . He was the first UK prime minister to have been formally questioned by police, though not under caution , while still in office. As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair

8352-538: The Labour Party adopted a policy of "public ownership" and won a clear endorsement for its policies – the destruction of the "evil giants" of want, ignorance, squalour, disease and idleness (identified by William Beveridge in the Beveridge Report )– in the post-war election victory of 1945 which brought Clement Attlee to power. However, the party had no clear plan as to how public ownership would shape their reforms, and much debate ensued. The nationalization

8496-574: The Labour Party and was elected to the House of Commons in 1983 for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham . As a backbencher , Blair supported moving the party to the political centre of British politics . He was appointed to Neil Kinnock 's shadow cabinet in 1988 and was appointed shadow home secretary by John Smith in 1992. Following Smith's death in 1994, Blair won a leadership election to succeed him. As leader, Blair began

8640-580: The Labour party becomes a Socialist party (the decisive phrase is "the common ownership of the means of production") ... Platonic resolutions have been passed before now, both by the Labour party and by the Trade Unions Congress in favour of the Socialistic organisation of society, but they are now for the first time made an integral part of the party constitution. In 1918, nationalisation was seen by many voters as akin to modernisation –

8784-653: The NHS and other public services, increasing spending from 39.9% of GDP to 48.1% in 2010–11. They pledged in 2001 to bring NHS spending to the levels of other European countries, and doubled spending in real terms to over £100 billion in England alone. Non-European immigration rose significantly during the period from 1997, not least because of the government 's abolition of the primary purpose rule in June 1997. This change made it easier for UK residents to bring foreign spouses into

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8928-662: The Rolling Stones . Leaving Fettes College at the age of 18, Blair next spent a gap year in London working as a rock music promoter. In 1972, at the age of 19, Blair matriculated at St John's College, Oxford , reading jurisprudence for three years. As a student, he played guitar and sang in a rock band called Ugly Rumours , and performed stand-up comedy . He was influenced by fellow student and Anglican priest Peter Thomson , who awakened his religious faith and left-wing politics. While at Oxford, Blair has stated that he

9072-692: The UK and the US ), a cross-section of workers from various trades ( general unionism , traditionally found in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, the UK and the US), or attempt to organize all workers within a particular industry ( industrial unionism , found in Australia, Canada, Germany, Finland, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US). These unions are often divided into " locals ", and united in national federations . These federations themselves will affiliate with Internationals , such as

9216-519: The UK's strong economic performance, but with a substantially reduced majority, due to the UK's involvement in the Iraq War. During his third term , Blair pushed for more systemic public sector reform and brokered a settlement to restore powersharing to Northern Ireland. He had a surge in popularity at the time of terrorist bombings of London of July 2005, but by the Spring of 2006 faced significant difficulties, most notably with scandals over failures by

9360-431: The United Kingdom, previous to this EU jurisprudence, a series of laws introduced during the 1980s by Margaret Thatcher's government restricted closed and union shops. All agreements requiring a worker to join a union are now illegal. In the United States, the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947 outlawed the closed shop. In 2006, the European Court of Human Rights found Danish closed-shop agreements to be in breach of Article 11 of

9504-411: The United States, collective bargaining is most commonly undertaken by unions directly with employers, whereas in Austria, Denmark, Germany or Sweden, unions most often negotiate with employers associations , a form of sectoral bargaining . Concerning labour market regulation in the EU, Gold (1993) and Hall (1994) have identified three distinct systems of labour market regulation, which also influence

9648-485: The breakaway SDP faction had merged with the Liberal Party ; the resulting Liberal Democrats seemed to pose a major threat to the Labour base. Blair, the leader of the modernising faction, had an entirely different vision, arguing that the long-term trends had to be reversed. The Labour Party was too locked into a base that was shrinking, since it was based on the working-class, on trade unions, and on residents of subsidised council housing. The rapidly growing middle-class

9792-524: The country. The former government advisor Andrew Neather in the Evening Standard stated that the deliberate policy of ministers from late 2000 until early 2008 was to open up the UK to mass migration. Neather later stated that his words had been twisted, saying: "The main goal was to allow in more migrant workers at a point when – hard as it is to imagine now – the booming economy was running up against skills shortages.... Somehow this has become distorted by excitable Right-wing newspaper columnists into being

9936-534: The creation of the National Coal Board , which was responsible for supplying 90% of the UK's energy needs. 1946 also saw the establishment of the National Health Service , which came into force in July 1948; railways, canals, road haulage and electricity were all also nationalised in 1948. By 1951, the iron, steel and gas industries had also been brought into public ownership. After losing the 1959 general election , Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell came to believe that public opposition to nationalisation had led to

10080-416: The danger of popular unrest at the time of the Napoleonic Wars . In 1799, the Combination Act was passed, which banned trade unions and collective bargaining by British workers. Although the unions were subject to often severe repression until 1824, they were already widespread in cities such as London . Workplace militancy had also manifested itself as Luddism and had been prominent in struggles such as

10224-518: The doctrines of orthodox Marxism , such as the preference of atheism and from rhetoric suggesting that employees' interests always are in conflict with those of employers. Some of these Christian unions have had some ties to centrist or conservative political movements, and some do not regard strikes as acceptable political means for achieving employees' goals. In Poland , the biggest trade union Solidarity emerged as an anti-communist movement with religious nationalist overtones and today it supports

10368-475: The education and health sectors; introduced student tuition fees ; introduced a welfare to work scheme and sought to reduce certain categories of welfare payments. He did not reverse the privatisation of the railways enacted by his predecessor John Major and instead strengthened regulation (by creating the Office of Rail Regulation ) and limited fare rises to inflation +1%. Blair and Brown raised spending on

10512-421: The effect is quite beyond attainment by such means. The multitudes who compose the working class are too numerous and too widely scattered to combine at all, much more to combine effectually. If they could do so, they might doubtless succeed in diminishing the hours of labour, and obtaining the same wages for less work. They would also have a limited power of obtaining, by combination, an increase of general wages at

10656-484: The electoral arms of trade unions. Unions are also delineated by the service model and the organizing model . The service model union focuses more on maintaining worker rights, providing services, and resolving disputes. Alternately, the organizing model typically involves full-time union organizers , who work by building up confidence, strong networks, and leaders within the workforce; and confrontational campaigns involving large numbers of union members. Many unions are

10800-437: The employer on behalf of its members, known as the rank and file, and negotiates labour contracts (collective bargaining agreements) with employers. Unions may organize a particular section of skilled or unskilled workers ( craft unionism ), a cross-section of workers from various trades ( general unionism ), or an attempt to organize all workers within a particular industry ( industrial unionism ). The agreements negotiated by

10944-558: The end of 1954, Blair's parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide , South Australia . His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide . In Australia, Blair's sister, Sarah, was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university. The family returned to the United Kingdom in mid-1958. They lived for a time with Hazel's mother and stepfather (William McClay) at their home in Stepps on

11088-498: The end of the 1990–92 recession . At the 1996 Labour Party conference, Blair stated that his three top priorities on coming to office were "education, education, and education". Aided by the unpopularity of John Major's Conservative government (itself deeply divided over the European Union ), Blair won a landslide victory for Labour at the 1997 general election , ending eighteen years of Conservative Party government, with

11232-425: The existence and the demands of the trade unions were becoming accepted by liberal middle-class opinion. In Principles of Political Economy (1871) John Stuart Mill wrote: If it were possible for the working classes, by combining among themselves, to raise or keep up the general rate of wages, it needs hardly be said that this would be a thing not to be punished, but to be welcomed and rejoiced at. Unfortunately

11376-462: The expense of profits. Beyond this claim, Mill also argued that, because individual workers had no basis for assessing the wages for a particular task, labour unions would lead to greater efficiency of the market system. British trade unions were finally legalized in 1872, after a Royal Commission on Trade Unions in 1867 agreed that the establishment of the organizations was to the advantage of both employers and employees. This period also saw

11520-543: The fact that Labour was fighting a legal action against planned boundary changes, and had selected candidates on the basis of previous boundaries. When the legal challenge failed, the party had to rerun all selections on the new boundaries; most were based on existing seats, but unusually in County Durham a new Sedgefield constituency had been created out of Labour-voting areas which had no obvious predecessor seat. The selection for Sedgefield did not begin until after

11664-478: The family's grocery shop to Blair's mother, Hazel. Blair has an elder brother, William , and a younger sister, Sarah. Blair's first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh. During this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh . Blair's first relocation was when he was nineteen months old. At

11808-403: The few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect. This version of Clause IV currently appears on the back of individual Labour Party membership cards today. Presentationally, the abandonment of the socialist principles of the original Clause IV represented a break with Labour's past and, specifically,

11952-867: The final stage of a long term shift of the Labour Party to the right. There is some evidence that Blair's long term dominance of the centre forced his Conservative opponents to shift a long distance to the left to challenge his hegemony there. Leading Conservatives of the post-New Labour era hold Blair in high regard: George Osborne describes him as "the master", Michael Gove thought he had an "entitlement to conservative respect" in February 2003, while David Cameron reportedly maintained Blair as an informal adviser. Former Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared Blair and New Labour to be her greatest achievement. Blair introduced significant constitutional reforms; promoted new rights for gay people; and signed treaties integrating Britain more closely with

12096-657: The first such union was the General Union of Trades, also known as the Philanthropic Society, founded in 1818 in Manchester . The latter name was to hide the organization's real purpose in a time when trade unions were still illegal. The first attempts at forming a national general union in the United Kingdom were made in the 1820s and 30s. The National Association for the Protection of Labour

12240-664: The five counties of Lancashire , Cheshire , Derbyshire , Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire within a year. To establish awareness and legitimacy, the union started the weekly Voice of the People publication, having the declared intention "to unite the productive classes of the community in one common bond of union." In 1834, the Welsh socialist Robert Owen established the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union . The organization attracted

12384-461: The formation of burial societies among Roman Army soldiers and Roman Navy mariners to the reign of Septimius Severus (193–211) in 198 AD. In September 2011, archaeological investigations done at the site of the artificial harbor Portus in Rome revealed inscriptions in a shipyard constructed during the reign of Trajan (98–117) indicating the existence of a shipbuilders guild. Rome's La Ostia port

12528-423: The functions of a trade union. In these cases, they may be negotiating for white-collar or professional workers, such as physicians, engineers or teachers. In Sweden the white-collar unions have a strong position in collective bargaining where they cooperate with blue-colar unions in setting the "mark" (the industry norm) in negotiations with the employers' association in manufacturing industry. A union may acquire

12672-455: The growth of trade unions in other industrializing countries, especially the United States, Germany and France. In the United States, the first effective nationwide labour organization was the Knights of Labor , in 1869, which began to grow after 1880. Legalization occurred slowly as a result of a series of court decisions. The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions began in 1881 as

12816-499: The growth to investments in education and the maintenance of fiscal responsibility, rather than a financial sugar-high. During his time as prime minister, Blair kept direct taxes low, while raising indirect taxation; invested a significant amount in Human capital ; introduced a National Minimum Wage and some new employment rights (while keeping Margaret Thatcher 's trade union reforms). He introduced substantial market-based reforms in

12960-472: The heaviest Conservative defeat since 1906 . In 1996, the manifesto New Labour, New Life for Britain was published, which set out the party's new " Third Way " centrist approach to policy, and was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics . In May 1995, Labour had achieved considerable success in the local and European elections and had won four by-elections. For Blair, these achievements were

13104-474: The invasion helped promote the rise of ISIS . The Chilcot Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War, though the former prime minister again refused to apologise for his decision to back the US-led invasion. One of Blair's first acts as prime minister was to replace the then twice-weekly 15-minute sessions of Prime Minister's Questions held on Tuesdays and Thursdays with

13248-435: The leadership election. Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Brown was central to the fortunes of New Labour , and they mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts. During his speech at the 1994 Labour Party conference, Blair announced a forthcoming proposal to update the party's objects and objectives, which was widely interpreted to relate to replacing Clause IV of

13392-414: The left. Like Tony Benn , Blair believed that the "Labour right" was bankrupt, saying "[s]ocialism ultimately must appeal to the better minds of the people. You cannot do that if you are tainted overmuch with a pragmatic period in power." Yet, he saw the hard left as no better, saying: There is an arrogance and self-righteousness about many of the groups on the far left which is deeply unattractive to

13536-600: The middle of the 14th century, when the Ordinance of Labourers was enacted in the Kingdom of England , but their way of thinking was the one that endured down the centuries, inspiring evolutions and advances in thinking which eventually gave workers more power. As collective bargaining and early worker unions grew with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the government began to clamp down on what it saw as

13680-450: The narrow boundaries for individual negotiations. As a condition to obtain the legal status of a trade union, employee associations need to prove that their leverage is strong enough to serve as a counterforce in negotiations with employers. If such an employee's association is competing against another union, its leverage may be questioned by unions and then evaluated in labour court. In Germany, only very few professional associations obtained

13824-618: The nationalisation of the railways was a widely supported policy, for instance, as it would reduce the plethora of uncoordinated and competing companies. This text is usually assumed to involve nationalisation of the whole economy, but close reading of the text shows that there are many other possible interpretations. Common ownership , though later given a technical definition in the Industrial Common Ownership Act 1976, could mean municipal ownership , worker cooperatives or consumer cooperatives . In December 1944,

13968-511: The need to be in a union. The prevalence of labour unions can be measured by "union density", which is expressed as a percentage of the total number of workers in a given location who are trade union members. The table below shows the percentage across OECD members. Source: OECD Unions may organize a particular section of skilled workers ( craft unionism , traditionally found in Australia , Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland,

14112-578: The objectives of the party are, whether that's restoring the Clause Four as it was originally written or it's a different one, but I think we shouldn't shy away from public participation, public investment in industry and public control of the railways. I'm interested in the idea that we have a more inclusive, clearer set of objectives. I would want us to have a set of objectives which does include public ownership of some necessary things such as rail." Although this has been seen by some as an endorsement for

14256-465: The ordinary would-be member ... There's too much mixing only with people [with] whom they agree. With a general election due, Blair had not been selected as a candidate anywhere. He was invited to stand again in Beaconsfield, and was initially inclined to agree but was advised by his head of chambers Derry Irvine to find somewhere else which might be winnable. The situation was complicated by

14400-553: The outskirts of north-east Glasgow. Blair's father accepted a job as a lecturer at Durham University , and moved the family to Durham when Blair was five. It was the beginning of a long association Blair was to have with Durham. Since childhood, Blair has been a fan of Newcastle United Football Club . With his parents basing their family in Durham, Blair attended the Chorister School from 1961 to 1966. Aged 13, he

14544-559: The party after Ed secured the trade union votes. Additionally, in the past, there was a group known as the Conservative Trade Unionists , or CTU, formed of people who sympathized with right wing Tory policy but were Trade Unionists. Historically, the Republic of Korea has regulated collective bargaining by requiring employers to participate, but collective bargaining has only been legal if held in sessions before

14688-552: The party was ascendant over the Conservatives in the opinion polls, since the Conservative government's reputation in monetary policy declined as a result of the Black Wednesday economic disaster of September 1992. Blair's election as leader saw Labour support surge higher still in spite of the continuing economic recovery and fall in unemployment that the Conservative government (led by John Major ) had overseen since

14832-489: The party's constitution with a new statement of aims and values. This involved the deletion of the party's stated commitment to "the common ownership of the means of production and exchange", which was generally understood to mean wholesale nationalisation of major industries. At a special conference in April 1995, the clause was replaced by a statement that the party is " democratic socialist ", and Blair also claimed to be

14976-475: The party's poor performance and proposed to amend Clause IV. The left wing of the party fought back and managed to defeat any change: symbolically, it was then agreed to include Clause IV, part 4, on Labour Party membership cards. The economic crisis of the 1970s, and the defeats suffered by the trade union movement, as well as the decline in influence of the Communist Party of Great Britain , led to

15120-597: The party. He stood as a candidate for the Hackney council elections of 1982 in Queensbridge ward, a safe Labour area, but was not selected. In 1982, Blair was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Beaconsfield , where there was a forthcoming by-election. Although Blair lost the Beaconsfield by-election and Labour's share of the vote fell by ten percentage points, he acquired

15264-422: The policies needed to achieve them would have to account for a changing society. At the conclusion of the 1994 conference, after becoming Leader, Blair proposed that the Labour Party needed a new statement of aims and values and stated that he would draw one up and present it to the party. This astonished many people, as the last time such a move had been taken in the late 1950s, it had been a failure. The new version

15408-408: The practice of serfdom in 1574, but the vast majority of people remained as tenant-farmers on estates owned by the landed aristocracy . This transition was not merely one of relocation from rural to urban environs; rather, the nature of industrial work created a new class of "worker". A farmer worked the land, raised animals and grew crops, and either owned the land or paid rent, but ultimately sold

15552-498: The reduction of wages below the level that is traditionally maintained in the various branches of industry. That is to say, they wish to prevent the price of labour-power from falling below its value" ( Capital V1, 1867, p. 1069). Early socialists also saw trade unions as a way to democratize the workplace, in order to obtain political power. A modern definition by the Australian Bureau of Statistics states that

15696-678: The reign of Hadrian (117–138) of the Roman Empire. A collegium was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity . Following the passage of the Lex Julia during the reign of Julius Caesar (49–44 BC), and their reaffirmation during the reign of Caesar Augustus (27 BC–14 AD), collegia required the approval of the Roman Senate or the Roman emperor in order to be authorized as legal bodies. Ruins at Lambaesis date

15840-561: The reinstatement of the original Clause IV, Corbyn denied this and said that more discussion within the party was needed. Clause Four was also the name of a campaigning group within the Labour Party's student wing (now Labour Students ), which succeeded in ending its control by the Militant group in 1975. However, the attempt of the Clause Four group to oppose Militant in the Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS)

15984-522: The relation between individual employees and employers is considered to be asymmetrical. In consequence, many working conditions are not negotiable due to a strong legal protection of individuals. However, the German flavor or works legislation has as its main objective to create a balance of power between employees organized in unions and employers organized in employers' associations. This allows much wider legal boundaries for collective bargaining, compared to

16128-473: The right of the political spectrum. The Financial Times argued that Blair is not conservative but instead a populist . Critics and admirers tend to agree that Blair's electoral success was based on his ability to occupy the centre ground and appeal to voters across the political spectrum, to the extent that he has been fundamentally at odds with traditional Labour Party values. Some left-wing critics, such as Mike Marqusee in 2001, argued that Blair oversaw

16272-565: The right to adopt and enacted several anti-discrimination policies into law. In 2014 he was proclaimed a "gay icon" by the Gay Times . The New Labour government increased police powers by adding to the number of arrestable offences, compulsory DNA recording and the use of dispersal orders. Under Blair's government the amount of new legislation increased which attracted criticism. He also introduced tough anti-terrorism and identity card legislation . Blair has been credited with overseeing

16416-617: The right to negotiate salaries and working conditions for their members, notably the medical doctor's association Marburger Bund  [ de ] and the pilots association Vereinigung Cockpit  [ de ] . The engineer's association Verein Deutscher Ingenieure does not strive to act as a union, as it also represents the interests of engineering businesses. Beyond the classification listed above, unions' relations with political parties vary. In many countries unions are tightly bonded, or even share leadership, with

16560-507: The right-wing Law and Justice party. Although their political structure and autonomy varies widely, union leaderships are usually formed through democratic elections . Some research, such as that conducted by the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training, argues that unionized workers enjoy better conditions and wages than those who are not unionized. The oldest global trade union organizations include

16704-584: The role that unions play: The United States takes a more laissez-faire approach, setting some minimum standards but leaving most workers' wages and benefits to collective bargaining and market forces. Thus, it comes closest to the above Anglo-Saxon model. Also, the Eastern European countries that have recently entered into the EU come closest to the Anglo-Saxon model. In contrast, in Germany,

16848-447: The slogan " One member, one vote ", John Smith, with limited input from Blair, secured an end to the trade union block vote for Westminster candidate selection at the 1993 conference. But Blair and the modernisers wanted Smith to go further still, and called for radical adjustment of Party goals by repealing " Clause IV ", the historic commitment to nationalisation of industry. This would be achieved in 1995. John Smith died suddenly of

16992-1182: The status of a " juristic person " (an artificial legal entity), with a mandate to negotiate with employers for the workers it represents. In such cases, unions have certain legal rights, most importantly the right to engage in collective bargaining with the employer (or employers) over wages, working hours, and other terms and conditions of employment . The inability of the parties to reach an agreement may lead to industrial action , culminating in either strike action or management lockout , or binding arbitration. In extreme cases, violent or illegal activities may develop around these events. In some regions, unions may face active repression, either by governments or by extralegal organizations, with many cases of violence , some having lead to deaths, having been recorded historically. Unions may also engage in broader political or social struggle. Social Unionism encompasses many unions that use their organizational strength to advocate for social policies and legislation favourable to their members or to workers in general. As well, unions in some countries are closely aligned with political parties . Many Labour parties were founded as

17136-610: The tide against the rebel forces; before deployment, the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone had been on the verge of collapse. Palliser had been intended as an evacuation mission but Brigadier David Richards was able to convince Blair to allow him to expand the role; at the time, Richards' action was not known and Blair was assumed to be behind it. Blair ordered Operation Barras , a highly successful SAS / Parachute Regiment strike to rescue hostages from

17280-444: The trade unions when trying to organize the informal economy. This has been a significant threshold to labour organizing in low-income countries , where the labour force mostly works in the informal economy. In the United Kingdom, the perceived left-leaning nature of trade unions (and their historical close alignment with the Labour Party ) has resulted in the formation of a reactionary right-wing trade union called Solidarity which

17424-694: The traditional form of accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds , to which he was appointed by Brown in one of the latter's last acts as chancellor; the resulting by-election was won by Labour candidate Phil Wilson . Blair decided not to issue a list of Resignation Honours , making him the first prime minister of the modern era not to do so. In 2001, Blair said, "We are a left of centre party, pursuing economic prosperity and social justice as partners and not as opposites." Blair rarely applies such labels to himself; he promised before

17568-476: The unification of the city-states in Assyria and Sumer by Sargon of Akkad into a single empire c.  2334 BC , a common Mesopotamian standard for length, area, volume, weight, and time used by artisan guilds in each city was promulgated by Naram-Sin of Akkad ( c.  2254 –2218 BC), Sargon's grandson, including for shekels . Codex Hammurabi Law 234 ( c.  1755–1750 BC ) stipulated

17712-458: The word "socialism" is not explicitly mentioned. The Manchester Guardian heralded it as showing "the Birth of a Socialist Party", stating that: The changes of machinery are not revolutionary, but they are significant. There is now for the first time embodied in the constitution of the party a declaration of political principles, and these principles are definitely Socialistic. ... In other words,

17856-421: The workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production , distribution and exchange , and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service. This section was widely seen as the Labour Party's commitment to socialism , even though

18000-401: The world was safer as a result of the invasion. He said there was "no real difference between wanting regime change and wanting Iraq to disarm: regime change was US policy because Iraq was in breach of its UN obligations." In an October 2015 CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria , Blair apologised for his "mistakes" over the Iraq War and admitted there were "elements of truth" to the view that

18144-450: Was a failure, and LPYS was eventually dissolved. The changing of Clause IV was seen by political commentators as the defining moment at which Old Labour became New Labour . The phrase "Clause Four moment" has subsequently become a metaphor for any need or perceived need for a fundamental recasting of a political party's principles or attitudes. Tony Blair [REDACTED] Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953)

18288-455: Was a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament , despite never strongly being in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament . Blair was helped on the campaign trail by soap opera actress Pat Phoenix , his father-in-law's girlfriend. At the age of thirty, he was elected as MP for Sedgefield in 1983; despite the party's landslide defeat at the general election . In his maiden speech in

18432-455: Was accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity dropped as a result, with Labour's overall majority at the 2005 election reduced from 167 to 66 seats. As a combined result of the Blair–Brown pact , the Iraq War and low approval ratings, pressure built up within the Labour Party for Blair to resign. Over the summer of 2006, many MPs criticised Blair for not calling for a ceasefire in

18576-412: Was adopted at a Special Conference at Easter 1995 following a debate, and reads, in part: The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not

18720-655: Was aligned with the reforming tendencies in the party (headed by leader Neil Kinnock) and in 1988 was promoted to the shadow Trade and Industry team as spokesman on the City of London . In 1987, he stood for election to the Shadow Cabinet , receiving 71 votes. When Kinnock resigned after a fourth consecutive Conservative victory in the 1992 general election , Blair became shadow home secretary under John Smith . The old guard argued that trends showed they were regaining strength under Smith's strong leadership. Meanwhile,

18864-506: Was also the first prime minister born after the Second World War and the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne. With victories in 1997, 2001, and 2005, Blair was the Labour Party's longest-serving prime minister, and the first person (and the only one, to date) to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories. His contribution towards assisting the Northern Ireland peace process by helping to negotiate

19008-604: Was appointed special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a diplomatic post he held until 2015. He has been the executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 2016 and has made occasional political interventions, and has been a key influence on Keir Starmer . In 2009, Blair was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush . He was made a Knight Companion of

19152-751: Was born on 6 May 1953 at Queen Mary Maternity Home in Edinburgh , Scotland. He was the second son of Leo and Hazel ( née  Corscadden ) Blair. Leo Blair was the illegitimate son of two entertainers and was adopted as a baby by the Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife, Mary. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher and Orangeman who moved to Glasgow in 1916. In 1923, he returned to (and later died in) Ballyshannon , County Donegal, in Ireland . In Ballyshannon, Corscadden's wife, Sarah Margaret (née Lipsett), gave birth above

19296-451: Was briefly a Trotskyist , after reading the first volume of Isaac Deutscher 's biography of Leon Trotsky , which was "like a light going on". He graduated from Oxford at the age of 22 in 1975 with a second-class Honours B.A. in jurisprudence. In 1975, while Blair was at Oxford, his mother Hazel died aged 52 of thyroid cancer , which greatly affected him. After Oxford, Blair served his barrister pupillage at Lincoln's Inn , where he

19440-515: Was called to the Bar. He met his future wife, Cherie Booth , at the chambers founded by Derry Irvine (who was to be Blair's first lord chancellor), 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers. Blair joined the Labour Party shortly after graduating from Oxford in 1975. In the early 1980s, he was involved in Labour politics in Hackney South and Shoreditch , where he aligned himself with the " soft left " of

19584-469: Was established in 1830 by John Doherty , after an apparently unsuccessful attempt to create a similar national presence with the National Union of Cotton-spinners. The Association quickly enrolled approximately 150 unions, consisting mostly of textile related unions , but also including mechanics, blacksmiths, and various others. Membership rose to between 10,000 and 20,000 individuals spread across

19728-624: Was founded in 1887 and merged with the Fédération nationale des syndicats (National Federation of Trade Unions) in 1895 to form the General Confederation of Labour . In a number of countries during the 20th century, including in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, legislation was passed to provide for the voluntary or statutory recognition of a union by an employer. Union density has been steadily declining from

19872-471: Was home to a guildhall for a corpus naviculariorum , a collegium of merchant mariners. Collegium also included fraternities of Roman priests overseeing ritual sacrifices , practising augury , keeping scriptures, arranging festivals, and maintaining specific religious cults. While a commonly held mistaken view holds modern trade unionism to be a product of Marxism , the earliest modern trade unions predate Marx's Communist Manifesto (1848) by almost

20016-434: Was initially a failure when it relied solely on air strikes; the threat of a ground offensive convinced Serbia's Slobodan Milošević to withdraw. Blair had been a major advocate for a ground offensive, which Bill Clinton was reluctant to do, and ordered that 50,000 soldiers – most of the available British Army – should be made ready for action. The following year, the limited Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone swiftly swung

20160-433: Was largely ignored, especially the more ambitious working-class families. They aspired to middle-class status but accepted the Conservative argument that Labour was holding ambitious people back with its levelling-down policies. They increasingly saw Labour in terms defined by the opposition, regarding higher taxes and higher interest rates. The steps towards what would become New Labour were procedural but essential. Calling on

20304-476: Was led by Herbert Morrison , who had had the experience of uniting London's buses and underground train system into a centralized system in the 1930s. He started with the Bank of England in April 1946, whereby stockholders received compensation and the governor and deputy governor were both re-appointed. Further industries swiftly followed: civil aviation in 1946, and railways and telecommunications in 1947, along with

20448-438: Was nominated by the branch. At the last minute, he was added to the shortlist and won the selection over Huckfield. It was the last candidate selection made by Labour before the election, and was made after the Labour Party had issued biographies of all its candidates ("Labour's Election Who's Who"). John Burton became Blair's election agent and one of his most trusted and longest-standing allies. Blair's election literature in

20592-643: Was rapid. Neil Kinnock appointed him in 1984 as assistant Treasury spokesman under Roy Hattersley who was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer . In May 1985, he appeared on the BBC's Question Time , arguing that the Conservative Government's Public Order White Paper was a threat to civil liberties. Blair demanded an inquiry into the Bank of England 's decision to rescue the collapsed Johnson Matthey bank in October 1985. By this time, Blair

20736-511: Was sent to spend his school term-time boarding at Fettes College in Edinburgh from 1966 to 1971. According to Blair, he hated his time at Fettes. His teachers were unimpressed with him; his biographer, John Rentoul , reported that "[a]ll the teachers I spoke to when researching the book said he was a complete pain in the backside and they were very glad to see the back of him." Blair reportedly modelled himself on Mick Jagger , lead singer of

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