In the United Kingdom, Trade unions are labor unions which first emerged during the Industrial Revolution. They initially resisted industrialization before fighting to defend workers' rights such as salaries, work hours, and collective bargaining. From the end of World War I in 1918 until the Thatcher era of the 1980s, trade unions played a central role in British society and politics, but the failed Miners' strike of 1984-85 and the deindustrialization of the British Isles led to the trade unions' loss of social and political influence.
Background[]
The poor had learned early that, weak as they might be individually, collectively they could represent a powerful force. The Peasants' Revolt of the 14th century was the most celebrated of the early shows of strength by the marginalized, a powerful statement of defiance against their oppressors. Since then, the structure of society had changed completely, most notably with the advent of industrialization. The Chartists made attempts to find strength in unity, but the high hopes placed in electoral reform had not been realized. Britain was the world's most successful industrial nation, but the question of the workers getting their share remained unanswered.
History[]
For Britain's working class, the Great Reform Act of 1832 had been a huge disappointment - a collective workers' voice had still not emerged. From 1874, the trade unions financed the campaigns of a series of Liberal candidates for Parliament. The trend peaked in 1885, when 12 such MPs were elected.
Striking out[]
Any improvement in the lot of the working class through parliamentary legislation was clearly going to be slow in coming. They did, however, have muscle in the mass. Individually, workers hardly came poorer or more powerless than the matchgirls of Bryant & May's factory in London's East End. When Annie Besant led them in a strike in 1888, they showed the way to other workers.
The first big show of union might have came in 1889 on the London docks. The dockers, poorly paid casual workers, demanded greater security and higher wages. The dispute was spontaneous - unions were formed as the action went on, spreading quickly to other ports. The employers' uncompromising stand was defeated by the determination of the dockers, supported by their comrades in foreign ports as far as Australia.
Striking back[]
Employers could take collective action too. In 1897, machine-operators' demand for a maximum eight-hour day was met by a national lockout. The men were barred from their workplaces (unpaid, of course) until the Amalgamated Association of Engineers agreed to management's terms. Just how badly the workers' power had frightened the Establishment was evident in the judge's ruling in the Taff Vale Railway Dispute (1901) - it held the railway's union liable for the loss of revenue caused to the South Welsh railway company by its members' strike. The union was fined £3,000 plus £19,000 expenses, sparking a series of similar suits from employers. Even middle-class liberals were uneasy about this ruling, which effectively outlawed strike action. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's Liberal government brought in the 1906 Trade Disputes Act, explicitly removing any question of such liabilities on the part of unions.
Liberal treatment[]
His successor, H.H. Asquith, and Chancellor David Lloyd George tried to alleviate conditions for the working class. Limited provision wasmade for free school meals and pensions for those over 70 years of age. Their "People's Budget" (1909) increased taxes for the rich, whose outrage was expressed in an enraged press - and an obstructive House of Lords. Even so, a National Insurance Act was passed in 1911. People paid into a fund while they worked. In return, they received sick pay and medical treatment or maternity care. Labour exchanges were opened and some unemployment benefit paid. The Conservatives as well as the hardline free market Liberals criticized these measures.
Labour pangs[]
The left wing of the labour movement also attacked these measures for being inadequate. The strikes continued, especially in the mines and the transport sector. The Scottish Labour Party was founded in 1888, and Scottish-born workers helped to create the Independent Labour Party in England in 1893. The election of Keir Hardie as an Independent to the seat of West Ham South in 1892 was a milestone. The Labour Party grew slowly, but the caution and vague idealism so derided by more sophisticated left-wing thinkers ultimately brought it popularity and strength. Even so, with only 30,000 members by 1914, it showed little sign of shaking the foundations of the system.
Aftermath[]
The 20th century was to see the fortunes of the labour movement rise and fall, a prey to fluctuations in the economy - and the public mood. The Great Depression left workers in a weak position. The Jarrow march was more an apppeal for action than a defiant stand. Much as the nation revered its wartime leader Winston Churchill, it cheerfully ditched his Conservative Party in 1945, sweeping Clement Attlee's Labour government into office with a mandate to construct a socialist welfare state. In hindsight, however, this was to seem something of a high water mark for the movement. The student radicalism of the 1960s and the union militancy of the 1970s produced a profound reaction in the country as a whole. Amid claims that the trade union "barons" were "holding the nation to ransom", Margaret Thatcher won a milestone election victory.