A s working class people and members of a Trade Union one may from time to time wonder how & why the Trade Union Movement was born. In this brief article I will give a personal view on this question and why I bielieve that the Trade Union Movement has both a proud history and a proud future ahead.
B efore the turn of the last century life in our country was very different. So different in fact that most of us would have great difficulty in even imagining what it was like. There were at that time two distinct classes of people the lower or Working Class and the Upper Class or Landed Gentry. The Upper Class owned all property and land and had the vote, controlled the economy and Parliament and generally had done so for generations. The Lower Class were mainly Farm Laborers, un-educated and un-organised as a work force, with no right to vote. This system had been perpetuated by the reinforcement of class structure through tradition and religion and had also remained unchanged for generations.Access to education and property rights shaped this world and opportunity was more or less guided by patronage and the order laid down by the Upper Class families that held the purse strings.
T hen came the Industrial Revolution and the changes to the fabric of our society that would reshape our world. Steam & Electric Power where the biggest new technologies that drove this revolution that had its first big effect on the speed of population movement and then an altering of the Class System itself. A new Middle Class was born out of a non religious dissafected group of intellectual people who chose business as the means to a better life than the farm-work which was the alternative. This middle class drove the Industrial Revolution by innovation and ideas but conflict was inevitable as social responsibility was neglected in the rush for power through money.
W hat became of the Working Class at this time is well documented in our history as Farm-workers migrated into inner cities built around the factories that were created to create the wealth that mass production brought, but that wealth stayed securely in the hands of the land-owners and businessmen that made it all possible and these migrants workers were exploited beyond our present day comprehension. The inventions that were supposed to emancipate working people enslaved them and the social justice that should have morally been a part of this revolution was neglected. The middle class got richer and more powerful and the working class became slaves to their masters in conditions unthinkable today. When we watch Pride & Prejudice or Little Women we see a picture of living for a middle class that made up 10% of the population whilst the rest starved on whatever was deemed their just reward.
I n time the Working Class became angry and dissatisfied with this new order and started to organise against exploitation and poverty. At first Trade Guilds and Working Men's Societies were started to assist working people in their struggle to earn a decent living and survive the conditions they put up with, from these Trade Unions were born. The population of this country were beginning to organise and rebel. The Tradesmen Guilds and Associations merged with the Trade Unions to challenge the Tory's in Government and they produced a body known as The Labour Party. A Political Party to voice the concerns of the Trade Unions and the working Class. The Methodist Church was actively involved in this process as unlike the Church of England who were steeped in progressing the will of the establishment, fairness and equality were central to their belief and in the poverty of working class conditions they helped promote fraternity and organisation.
O ver the last Century the relationship between unions and the labour party has changed from the growth and power of the unions of the 50's and 60's to the clashes with government of the 70's and the "winter of Discontent" .Then came the 1980's when legislation and regulation were used to brow beat the trade union movement accompanied by a campaign in the media to alienate the trade union movement to the population. Also the shape of our economy has changed as technology has raced us onwards. The relationship with Labour is at present in my opinion the weakest it has ever been.
A s a party member, of a certain age, I like many fellow traditional Labour Supporters feel ill at ease as the TUC is ignored and the CBI seems to be the new bed fellow of the party that was formed by the working class for the working class. Issues such as care for the elderly, the NHS, Education have been neglected in favour of The Dome, E Commerce, and Joint Venture projects such as PFI. Most trade unionist are torn between a loyalty to the old labour values they cherish and the guilt that the winter of discontent gave us.
The Trade Union Movement is now growing and in the CWU you are a member of the UK's fifth biggest union. Why is this when other union giants are having their membership numbers fall. The reason is a credit to us as a union. We adapt and change due to the fact that in the communication industry to do otherwise is to be left behind. When new technology confronts us we negotiate and adapt. Many of the technologies we face today would have sent the Luddites ( The first Trade Union Activists ) scurrying for their sledgehammers. Through our attitude to change we have made working conditions less hostile and have seen steady improvements in many areas of our working lives as well as keeping our businesses profitable and thereby securing employment.
W hat does the future have in store for us as trade union members? It is hard to tell but rest assured the principles that led to its formation will remain uppermost and the desire for fair pay for our members efforts the number one priority. Its easy in the industries we work in to forget the struggle that led to our current terms and conditions and to realise out there are non-unionised work places where pay is below the minimum wage and horrifying working practices are rife. Whilst we continue to thrive as a trade union we will help shape our working lives and pass on decent values of social justice to those who come after us. That is also why it is important to belong to a trade union and be actively involved at all levels, democracy may seem boring but without it we would remain in the grip of the conditions that our forefathers tolerated not so long ago!
MOVING WITH THE TIMES
Jeff Thomas
Branch Secretary
Plymouth & East Cornwall
Note * These are my personal Views and not the views of the Branch or the CWU
