The Development of Trade Unions (AQA GCSE History)

Summary

At the start of the 19^th century, Britain’s industrial workers had no power or influence over their employers. As the century progressed they realised that if they acted together their demands would be heard. Organisations that collectively argued for workers with the factory owners started to develop and became known as trade unions.

Factory owners and the government tried to stop workers from organising and the law often punished early union leaders. However, by the end of the 1800s, even the lowest-skilled workers had formed unions which forced their employers to listen. These unions then grew into the Labour Party - a political party formed to represent the working class.

The Grand National Consolidation Trades Union (GNCTU)

• Ever since the Middle Ages, skilled workers had belonged to guilds 

  • Guilds agreed on the prices to be charged and wages to be paid

• The Industrial Revolution meant that factory owners employed huge numbers of people

  • These owners paid the lowest possible wages

  • They fired anyone who complained about pay and conditions

• Towards the end of the 1700s, small groups of workers began to form combinations that negotiated for better pay and better conditions collectively with their bosses

• As most MPs and men who could vote were on the side of the factory owners, the government passed the Combination Acts in 1799 and 1800

  • These acts made combinations illegal

• The acts were repealed in 1824

  • This rapidly led to a wave of strikes by workers trying to improve their pay and conditions

• As a result, the Combination Act of 1825 was passed which limited how combinations operated and banned things such as picketing

• In 1833, the reformist campaigner Robert Owen set up the Grand National Consolidation Trades Union (GNCTU) 

  • This union linked together the combinations of several different trades     

• The idea quickly caught on and the union attracted 500,000 members

  • By 1834, disagreements between the different trades led to the GNCTU’s collapse

• The concept of an ‘umbrella’ organisation to unite large numbers of workers had taken hold

The Tolpuddle Martyrs

• In 1834, there was an attempt by six farm labourers from a small Dorset village to improve their wages 

• New machinery had reduced the need for labourers and caused wages to fall

• The six workers had their wages cut from 10 shillings a week to 7

  • They decided to meet and form a union

  • They discussed ways to negotiate with the landowner

  • All the men swore an oath. Forming a union was not illegal but taking a secret oath was

  • The men were arrested, found guilty and sentenced to be transported to Australia for 7 years

• News of the punishment caused a national outcry with 200,000 people marching and 800,000 signing a petition in protest against their punishment

• The families of the six men were supported by money from unions

  • After three years of campaigning, they were finally pardoned

• The men became known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs

  • They used their fame to help campaign for improved workers’ rights

New Model Unions

• In the 1850s, skilled workers started making their lives more secure by developing ‘New Model Unions’

•  In exchange for paying a subscription, members of these unions received benefits if they became injured, sick or unemployed

  •  A key example of a New Model Union was the Amalgamated Society of Engineers

• In towns and cities across the country, representatives of different unions started to meet and create trade councils

  • This led to a national council being set up in 1868 where all the representatives of the different unions met up to coordinate their actions

  • It was called the Trades Union Congress

Matchgirls’ Strike,1888

• New Model Unions improved pay and conditions for skilled workers

• Those working unskilled jobs were still unrepresented and unprotected by unions

  • Toward the end of the 1800s, the development of New Unionism led to more unions for unskilled workers

• The Matchmakers Union was one of the first to get widespread publicity after its members went on strike for five weeks in 1888

• Workers at the Bryant and May match factory in London:

  • Were poorly paid 

  • Suffered serious health problems from working with white phosphorous

•  Journalist Annie Besant wrote an article about their conditions and called them ‘white slaves of London’ in reference to the appalling treatment of enslaved African people that had been outlawed in the British Empire in 1833

• Workers were fired for refusing to deny the claims in the article

• Annie Besant helped to set up and organise the Matchmakers Union 

  • The workers went on strike until pay and working conditions were improved

  • All of their demands were met

• This was the first time strike action by unskilled workers had been successful

Dockers’ Strike 1889

• Dockers were considered unskilled workers

  • They also had the added insecurity of being hired on very short-term contracts

  • The dockers would arrive at the docks every morning and, if they were needed, they were hired to load or unload ships

•  Around 12,000 dockers often competed for 5,000 jobs

  • This had the effect of driving down wages and dockers were sometimes only hired for an hour of work

  • If there were no ships, the dockers could go without work for days

•  In August 1889, the dockers went on strike and refused to return to work until they were:

  • Paid 6 pence an hour

  • Given shifts of a minimum of four hours

• Pickets stopped people from reaching the ships and London’s docks were brought to a standstill

• Other unions came out in sympathy strikes 

  • Soon 130,000 workers had withdrawn their labour

• Without any wages, many dockers struggled to feed their families 

  • A £30,000 donation from Australian trade unions meant the strike could continue

• In September 1889, the dock owners gave in and the dockers’ demands were met

Significance of New Unionism

• The matchgirls and dockers proved how effective militant action could be in giving all workers a voice

• The success of the strikes led to an increase in the number of people joining unions

  • Over 2 million people had joined unions by 1899

•  Broader unions that represented different trades, such as the Transport and General Workers Union, became popular and were able to threaten to bring more workers out on strike

•  The Labour Party, which was established in 1893, grew out of the trade union movement and meant that working people now had a political voice