Misplaced Pages

#293706

40-573: In 1929 the Workers' Union amalgamated into the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). The idea for a general trade union arose following an 1897 strike of London-based engineers. The action was defeated by the new Engineering Employers' Federation , and many trade unionists feared that this example would be followed by other employers. Discussions in the Weekly Times and Echo led to

80-590: A particular field had enough members to justify its own trade group, it was split out. These decisions were made at the Biennial Delegate Conference, and although there were many applications to form new trade groups, most were unsuccessful. The group had 68,000 members in 1928, and it then doubled in size when the Workers' Union merged into the TGWU. By 1966, it had 338,000 members and, despite

120-510: A year earlier than planned. Regions – particularly Region One which covered London, the South East and Eastern England, also had a tradition of donating to other causes, as did branch committees, which controlled a substantial proportion of membership income. The list of TGWU amalgamations highlights the scale of the TGWU policy of mergers, amalgamations and transfers of engagements, which contributed to its membership growth and

160-830: The Amalgamated Carters, Lurrymen and Motormen's Union , the Greenock Sugar Porters' Union , the Dundee Flax and Jute Stowers' Society, the National Union of British Fishermen , and the Belfast Breadservers' Association . Some of these unions retained a great deal of autonomy and in many ways effectively functioned as separate unions, even being registered separately with the Registrar of Friendly Societies The biggest merger

200-629: The British Isles . Gibraltar . A branch was established in Malta with 500 dockworkers, and another branch was established in Tangier, Morocco . In 1919 the Workers' Union attempted to establish a branch within the Union of South Africa . George Kendall was put in charge of this expansion, but the effort resulted in failure due to Kendall's "drinking habits and neglect to carry out his engagements". By

240-668: The Dockers' Record of the DWRGLU; Quayside and Office of the National Union of Docks, Wharves and Shipping Staffs ; The Record of the United Vehicle Workers ; and The Vehicle Worker of the National Union of Vehicle Workers . On 1 January 1922, fourteen trades unions officially amalgamated to form the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), with Ernest Bevin as its first General Secretary. At amalgamation

280-883: The General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), but it left both bodies in 1900, as a money-saving measure. Initially, the union was unsuccessful, membership peaking at 4,172 at the end of 1898. For example, recruitment at both the Army & Navy Stores and Lipton's Tea led to industrial action, and short booms in membership followed by defeats and then a collapse in membership. William Banham and J. Wade were employed as full-time local organisers in London, while other early organisers included John Mahoney in Middlesbrough, and George Newcombe in Coventry, but all had left by

320-583: The International Federation of Ship, Dock and River Workers issuing an appeal for the formation of a new general union. The federation's president, Tom Mann , gave the appeal strong support, chairing a conference in February 1898 which proposed a "labour league" or "workers' union", which would organise workers in all trades and industries as a general trade union, and support independent labour candidates at elections. The first branches of

360-511: The Workers' Union amalgamated into the TGWU. Despite being named as a general workers union , the TGWU was primarily made up of workers in the union's four transport Trade Groups—Docks, Waterways, Commercial Road Transport, and Passenger Road Transport. As of 1928, the four transport groups made up 220,000 members of the TGWU in comparison the General Workers Trade Group which constituted only 68,000. With amalgamation,

400-605: The Labour Party in the 1918 UK general election , but both were unsuccessful. Neil Maclean , a union member, did win a seat with the backing of the Independent Labour Party , and in 1919 he was elected to the union's executive. The union's growth stalled during the First World War, but then leapt dramatically in 1918, reaching 495,000 by the end of the year, making it the largest trade union in

440-561: The National Union of Government Employees, led by Arthur Gourd , boosting membership in dockyards—which peaked at about 25,000. Expansion allowed the opening of an arbitration department, led by William Kelly , and the opening of new headquarters in Golders Green . A divisional structure was adopted in 1915, with Beard, Dallas, Ellery, Giles, Harris, Kerr, Morley and Titt appointed to head the new divisions, supplemented after

SECTION 10

#1732794003294

480-686: The TGWU later in 1922, and despite initially voting against the ballot, so did the SUDW. Through the NUDRW and the DWR&;GLU, the TGWU inherited a number of active branches in Ireland in Belfast , Carrick-on-Suir , Clonmel , Cork , Derry , Drogheda , Dundalk , Newry and Waterford . The Irish membership of the TGWU in 1922 amounted to 8,000, or just over 2.65% of the union's total membership. For

520-700: The TGWU's membership increased by 100,000 members, the majority of whom joined its General Workers Group, making the group the largest. This increase in General Trade Group members garnered the Union the recognition and infrastructure to recruit new members outside of the transport sector. The Transport and General Workers' Union structure combined regional organisation, based on Districts and Areas, with committee organisation by occupation, based on six broad Trade Groups. Trade groups were not closely linked to trades, but were elected by activists. Officials of

560-573: The UK, and the Workers' Union capitalised on this. Membership increased rapidly, to 18,000 by the end of 1911, 91,000 by the end of 1913, and 143,000 by mid-1914. It was now a similar size to the National Union of Gasworkers and General Labourers , the largest general union in the UK. The additional funds allowed Duncan to launch a publicity campaign, principally through the Daily Citizen , and take on several members of administrative staff, and increase

600-538: The actual name of its white-collar section. From the 1960s it was generally known as ACTS (Administrative, Clerical, Technical and Supervisory) but also sometimes as the ACTSS (Association of Clerical, Technical and Supervisory Staff) and enamel union badges bearing both sets of initials were produced for members. It was noted for an enquiry by the Certification Office in 2006 into board members who had joined

640-797: The committee agreeing to invite other unions related to the docks industry. In ballots of the various unions on amalgamation, only the ballots put to the Amalgamated Stevedores Labour Protection League , the Scottish Union of Dock Labourers (SUDW) and the Cardiff Coal Trimmers memberships failed. While the new union was being established, the official publication of the union, The Record , published its first issue in August 1921. The first issue cited its predecessor publications as

680-661: The country. It tried to recruit more women, and by the end of the war had twenty women organisers, who succeeded to take women's membership from 5,000 to 80,000 by the end of the war. The union also recruited among Belgian refugee engineers, who at the end of the war were transferred to the Belgian Metal Workers' Union . A large number of small, localised unions amalgamated in, with the National Farm and Dairy Workers' Union and Anglesey Workers' Union boosting agricultural membership—which peaked at around 120,000—and

720-833: The end of 1901. From late 1900, Chambers and Mann were forced to devote their time to the international federation, Chambers being replaced by Duncan, who in turn was succeeded as president by Robert Morley , while Mann retained his office as an honorary position. Duncan successfully brought the union's finances under control, and began offering optional benefits to out-of-work members. For the next few years, membership continued to fall, bottoming out at only 1,000 in 1903, but it then began growing, reaching 5,000 in 1910. New organisers were employed, including George Titt in Manchester, Joseph Harris in Ireland, and Matt Giles in South Wales, while John Beard , who had been working part-time for

760-762: The end of 1920, these efforts had only garned 3,057 overseas members. In 1919, the union joined the National Amalgamated Workers Union , a loose confederation with the Municipal Employees Association and the National Amalgamated Union of Labour , but this dissolved in 1922. Membership of the union collapsed during the 1920s, with job losses due to the depression, the General Strike of 1926 and disputes over payments to members of

800-512: The executive committee. In 1929, it merged into the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), with about 100,000 members remaining to transfer. This enabled the TGWU, for the first time, to gain significant numbers of members outside of the docks and transport industries. The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in numerous Parliamentary elections, several of whom won election. Transport and General Workers%27 Union The Transport and General Workers' Union ( TGWU or T&G )

840-565: The first full-time organiser of its Scottish Divisional Council. From 1910, he began solely organising the Glasgow district of the party. Kerr was also active in the Workers' Union , acting as a volunteer organiser. At the end of 1911, he was appointed as its first full-time organiser for Scotland. At the time, the union had only 250 members in Scotland, but by 1914, he had increased its membership to 9,000, mostly in Glasgow, and in 1915 it

SECTION 20

#1732794003294

880-440: The first two years of its existence, the TGWU lost members, and continued to lose members for another four out of eight years. In 1923, an unofficial London dock strike caused a fissure in the TGWU, and resulted in some docks members joining the now-rival Amalgamated Stevedores Labour Protection League union. While the issue failed to create a larger defection, the two unions would come into conflict multiple times. In 1929,

920-401: The merger. The result of the ballot was announced on 8 March 2007: 86.4 per cent of T&G members and 70.1 per cent of Amicus members voted to support the merger, from a turnout of 27% in both cases. The press release announced that the resulting union had the working title "New Union" and the name would be decided by a ballot of the membership. On 2 April 2007, The Times reported that

960-462: The name Unite had been chosen. and that full merger of rule books and governing bodies may soon follow the existing merger of personnel and finance departments. It was negotiated that both Derek Simpson , General Secretary of Amicus, and Tony Woodley General Secretary of TGWU, would serve as Joint-General Secretaries of Unite until December 2010 and that Tony Woodley would serve alone until January 2012. Despite this Woodley resigned January 2011,

1000-582: The number of full-time organisers from six to forty. They included George Dallas in London, and George Kerr in Scotland Beard defeated Morley in the 1913 presidential election, his victory coming on the back of the recruitment of large numbers of semi-skilled engineering workers in the West Midlands by him, Arthur Ellery, and Julia Varley . The union also recruited strongly among agricultural workers, with Sidney Box and R. O. Hornagold being

1040-513: The principal organisers. In 1913 the Workers' Union attempted to rejoin the TUC, but was blocked by other unions which claimed that it was poaching their members. The union's leadership supported First World War , with both Beard and Duncan joining the British Workers' League , although they left in 1918 when it supported anti-Labour Party Parliamentary candidates. Duncan and Morley stood for

1080-399: The renamed Passenger Services group had dropped to only 44,501 members. The Commercial Services group rose from 37,000 members in 1928 to 219,000 in 1966, and 226,290 in 1980. The General Workers Group was created in 1922 to cater for all workers in jobs which did not fall into another group. Initially, it had subsections for workers in metal and chemical trades. Once it was considered that

1120-469: The splitting out of further groups in 1970, by 1980 it still had 269,845 members. The first groups to be split out were: The Scottish Union of Dock Labourers and the National Union of Dock, Riverside and General Workers in Great Britain and Ireland initially voted not to amalgamate as founding members, but a new voted changed their position, and they joined before the end of 1922, along with

1160-683: The spread of its membership base. George Kerr (UK politician) George Kerr (died 12 February 1942) was a Scottish politician and trade unionist . Born in Glasgow , Kerr became involved in the Clarion socialist movement. He was secretary of the Glasgow Clarion Scouts for ten years, and in 1900 became an advance agent for the Clarion Van movement. He joined the Independent Labour Party in 1894, and in 1906 became

1200-535: The three unions into one organisation with potentially 2.5 million members covering almost every sector of the economy. On 14 June 2006 the GMB Conference voted not to continue with discussions. The TGWU and Amicus proceeded without GMB involvement, with delegates from the two unions approving the proposed 'Instrument of Amalgamation' at a special conference on 18 December 2006. The ballot of both unions' membership during February and early March 2007, approved

1240-772: The union among agricultural workers, was transferred to a full-time post in Birmingham. The Workers' Union was a founder member of the Labour Representation Committee , and remained affiliated as it became the Labour Party . Despite its original aim of sponsoring labour candidates, it was unable to do so until 1918. However, Duncan managed to gain the sponsorship of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers , and served as an MP from 1906 onwards. 1911 saw increased unrest among workers in

Workers' Union - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-522: The union had 300,000 members. The Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) had tentatively taken part in the negotiations, however the talks with the ITGWU broke down. The ITGWU initially challenged the name of the TGWU, claiming that the similar titles would cause confusion. Compromise was reached when the TGWU agreed to operate under the name Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) within Ireland. The NUDRW amalgamated into

1320-576: The union voted to merge with Amicus to form Unite the Union . In March 1920, the London -based Dock, Wharf, Riverside & General Labourers' Union (DWRGLU) began talks on forming a unified dockworkers ' union with the Liverpool -based National Union of Dock, Riverside and General Workers (NUDRW). The two unions' delegations agreed on a provisional amalgamation committee with Ernest Bevin as its Secretary, and Harry Gosling as its chair, with

1360-609: The union were formed in April 1898 in Bradford , Halifax , Leeds , London , Manchester , Middlesbrough and Oldham , with the union officially launched on May Day . Tom Chambers was employedas general secretary, and Charles Duncan as president and general organiser. Tom Mann worked as vice president and worked only part-time for the union. On formation, the union affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and

1400-422: The union were grouped by region, and could be asked to serve each or any trade group. The Docks Group was created in 1922 to represent members of the following unions: The group originally had a subsection for coal shipping. In 1928, it had 96,000 members, but over time, membership of the group declined along with employment on the docks, dropping to 56,000 in 1966, and had 51,153 in 1980. The Waterways Group

1440-474: The union within six months of being elected to senior posts. The group grew significantly over time, having only 5,000 members in 1928, but 62,000 by 1966, and 149,801 members in 1980. The Road Transport group was created in 1922 to represent members of the following unions: Later in 1922, the group was split into Road Transport (Passenger) and Road Transport (Commercial) groups. The Passenger group had 79,000 members in 1928 and 181,000 in 1966, but by 1980,

1480-524: The war by William Adamson , Gourd, Hugh Lawrie , Tom Macnamara (soon succeeded by Alf Edmonds), and James McKeag. In July 1918, the union led a general strike on the Isle of Mann . The strike was successful, with demands being met by Lieutenant Governor of Mann , George Somerset , who resigned his Governorship in December that year. The late 1910s saw the Workers' Union establish branches outside of

1520-472: Was created in 1922 to represent members of the Amalgamated Society of Watermen, Lightermen and Bargemen . Always one of the smallest sections, it had only 8,000 members in 1928, and 16,000 in 1966. In 1970, it was merged into the Docks Group. The Administrative, Clerical and Supervisory Group was created in 1922 to represent members of the following unions: There was often ambiguity in the TGWU over

1560-583: Was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland —where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union ( ATGWU )—with 900,000 members (and was once the largest trade union in the world). The TGWU was officially founded on 1 January 1922 with the amalgamation of 14 individual trades unions. Ernest Bevin served as the union's first and longest serving General Secretary . In 2007,

1600-513: Was with the Workers' Union in 1929, the union being fully integrated into the TGWU in 1931. The Transport and General Workers' Union spearheaded the campaign for the registration of Gangmasters in the UK, sponsoring an Act of Parliament which received the Royal Assent on 8 July 2004. During 2005 discussions started between the TGWU, Amicus and the GMB about the possibility of merging

#293706