Union History: Democracy and central Control in union mergers;

Ernie Bevin and the creation of the TGWU

with Dave Chapple (Bristol & District CWU /Bridgwater Trades Council), Jon Gray (UNISON & Workshop Chair) and 18 conference delegates.

This years trade union history workshop opened with the suggestion that as union mergers are quite topical, it might be worth looking back at the creation of the TGWU, the first large amalgamation of trade unions, to see if there were any lessons to be learned.

Dave then gave a detailed history supported with a handout of how the political and industrial ferment that followed the First World War led to support for the idea of 'one big union' to advance the aspirations of workers, an idea supported by Bevin who was the driving force for bringing together 18 different unions mainly associated with docks and transport between 1920 and 1922. Amalgamating such a diverse range of unions was not without its difficulties but many of these were resolved through the development of trade groups to reflect the various industrial sectors. However there were still early problems between the leading union personalities and in some cases the decision making process became more centralised through the move from annual to biennial conferences although the new union did have a lay national executive, which was not always the case with some of its constituents. Politically the new union had no aspirations to take over the machinery of government as was the case with the other supporters of the 'one big union' idea such as the Industrial Workers of the World ( or Wobblies) but they did wish to influence the political agenda through the parliamentary route via the Labour Party.

Jon thanked Dave for his presentation and opened the discussion to the Workshop where the following points were made:

" There is a period of uncertainty while mergers go through especially when merging totally different structures together.
" The CWU has been merged for 13 years yet still seems to be two separate organisations.
" Smaller unions seem to have more room to manoeuvre.
" There is strength from being a 'single interest' union although membership fees can be prohibitive in a small union.
" Mergers need a strong figurehead in order to be successful. For example Bevin in the T&G and Rodney Bickerstaffe when UNISON was created.
" Some people felt that good traditions were being lost during mergers, although others pointed out the need to look forward rather than backwards.
" At the moment some mergers are taking place before previous mergers have had time to bed in.
" Mergers often seems to be all about the 'big boys' at the top. What about the members?
" Sometimes it is necessary to merge to retain political and industrial influence. Small, poorly financed unions within a sector will be unable to represent members as effectively
" Inter union issues: activists unwilling to merge with a union that did not support their strike action.

Dave summed up his thoughts by asking if the time was right to ask 'where are we going' with mergers? Perhaps the South West TUC could consider putting on an appropriate event to discuss this issue?

Unfortunately time was too short to explore this important subject any further and Jon closed the meeting with a vote of thanks to Dave, who once again had provided us with a very topical and thought provoking workshop.

Report prepared by

Alan Shearn
Regional Development Worker
unionlearn : South West region

28th April 2008