Lecture 10 Trade Unions(1)

8/13/2019 Lecture 10 Trade Unions(1)

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Lecture ten: Trade unions and

the post-war settlement

Patrick Diamond

4thMarch 2013


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Britain in the 1970s: The sick man of

Europe?

Our place in the world is shrinking: our economic

comparisons grow worse, long-term political

influence depends on economic strength - and

that is running out. If I were a young man, Ishould emigrate. (Jim Callaghan, 1974)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koaLMOREqSghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je65Vw7ndro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koaLMOREqSghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je65Vw7ndrohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je65Vw7ndrohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koaLMOREqSg


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Key readings and topic guide

Eric Hobsbawm The forward march of Labour

halted? (1978)

http://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collect

ions/mt/index_frame.htm

Colin Hay The winter of discontent thirty

years on, Political Quarterly, 80, 4, 2009, 545-

552 (with roundtable discussion 553-61)
http://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/mt/index_frame.htmhttp://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/mt/index_frame.htmhttp://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/mt/index_frame.htmhttp://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/mt/index_frame.htm


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This lecture: four parts

The transfer of power from capital to labour in

British society between 1940 and 1955

The re-emergence of the trade union problem in

the 1950s The trade union problem in British politics 1964-

79: was Britain governable with strong unions?

Concluding thoughts


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Rise of labour?

Trade unions date from early 19thcentury preceding

birth of parliamentary democracy and universal

franchise

Labour party created as party of unions enshrined inconference and electoral college

Conservatives ambivalent: one nation tradition sees

positive role for responsible unions and wartime

government advocates industrial conciliation Desire for control and constraint given industrial

relations conflict


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Transfer of power: the war years

Maximisation of wartime production requiresinnovation and greater flexibility (plus inclusion ofwomen in labour-force)

Requires avoidance of strikes and economicdisruption

Unions economic position strengthened by fullemployment during the war

While emergency powers were introduced, theemphasis was on industrial consensus and ethosof peoples war (Bevin)


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Bevins role

Bevin symbolised unionpower: Minster of Labourin wartime coalition andformer General Secretaryof the TGWU

Underlines new standing ofthe unions more powerfuleverywhere from factoriesto the War Cabinet

Membership rises from 6million in 1938 to 8 millionin 1943, 9 million in 1947and 13.4 million by 1975


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The transfer of power to labour: the

war years

Organised labour willhenceforth be satisfied withnothing less than full

partnership in the state. Thewar has brought out moreclearly than ever before thecountrys dependence uponthe mass of working

peopleBy helping to savethe country they will findtheir own salvation too(Labour and the War, 1940)


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The Attlee years

Unions strongly identify with social gains: our

government

Cemented by repeal of 1927 Trades Disputes Act

TUC supports wage restraint policy 1948-50 Days lost in strikes remains very low (less than 2

million per annum) despite maintenance of full

employment

But particular sectors show signs of vulnerability to

industrial relations conflict e.g. dock strikes 1948-9;

government uses emergency powers legislation


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A revisionist view

There has been a decisivemovement of power withinindustryfrom management tolabour. This is mainly a consequenceof the sellers market for labourcreated by full employmentwagedemands, now made annually in the

most important industries, areregularly conceded by employers toan extent which arouses constantalarm amongst economiccommentators (C.A.R. Crosland, TheFuture of Socialism, 1956

Crosland argues capitalism has changedfundamentally - shift of power fromcapital to labour


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Conservative response

Churchill seen as strike-breaker and anti-union aftergeneral strike (1926)

But post-war new Conservatism represents moreaccommodating one nation approach

Industrial Charter in 1947 includes workers charterwith positive recognition of unions role

Shared commitment to full employment (memories of1930s) and industrial conciliation

Sir Walter Monckton as Minister of Labour (1951-55)was an arch-consolidator; no attempt to outlawunofficial strikes or impose new controls on tradeunions


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The re-emergence of the trade union

problem 1955-64

Growing concerns about economic under-

performance

Unions want fair share of affluence

Strike numbers rise

Increasingly negative depiction of the trade unions

in British society Growing concern about trade union militancy


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The re-emergence of the trade union

problem 1955-64

Macmillan government introduces National IncomesCommission in 1961-62

NEDC created in 1962 to build tripartite agreementbetween government, unions, and employers as high-

water mark of post-war corporatism

But no statutory powers: free collective bargainingremains intact

Unions implicated in economic decline

Transfer of power to labour emerges as majorproblem for governments preoccupied with economicmanagement


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The trade union problem in British

politics 1964-79

Unions seen as contributing to downfall of Heath and

Callaghan governments: Heath following Miners

strikes in 1972-74 and Callaghan following Winter ofDiscontent in 1978-79

Poll in 1975 shows majority think Jack Jones (TGWU

General Secretary) is the most powerful man in Britain

Growing concern about extent of trade union powerand role of interest groups in policy-making process


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The trade union problem in British

politics: Heath and the unions

Industrial Relations Act 1971 attempts comprehensivereform

However, unions refuse to recognise legislation orrecognise Industrial Relations Court

Mounting industrial militancy e.g. Clydeside, flyingpickets, miners strikes 1972-74

Faced with second miners strike in February 1974,Heath goes to the country on the question of who

governs Britain; he loses Key political experience for Margaret Thatcher who

confronts the NUM in 1984-85

Wil C ll h d th U i


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Wilson, Callaghan and the Unions

1974-9: towards nemesis?

Wilson elected in 1974 with commitment to the Social Contract

By 1975, a statutory incomes policy in place renewed in each

succeeding year

In 1978, imposition of 5% pay norm leads to extensive unionopposition, the Winter of Discontent, and paves way for Conservative

victory in 1979

From 1981, Thatcher governments introduce employment acts aiming

to weaken union powers avoiding Heaths error in 1971

Union resistance weakened by mass unemployment and recessionwhich Thatcher argues is the price to be paid for countering the trade

unionsdecisive break with post-war consensus


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The winter of discontent


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Assessing the role of the unions in

post-war Britain I

Some interpretations argue unions threatenedorderly, consensual government in Britain:

Unions run from the top-down

Extremists were disproportionately influential

Small groups were able to disrupt key public services(NHS patients during Winter of Discontent)

Full employment and social security strengthened

bargaining power Diagnosis leads to Thatcherism and authoritarian

populism (Hall)


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Assessing the role of the unions in

post-war Britain II

Unions status and role was integral to the PWC and settlement:industrial consensus resting on full employment

The power of the unions was negative: treated as an interestgroup and never given a formal role in developing and initiating

policy Most visible expression of union power such as strikes reflect

weakening of the unions bargaining position and failure toresolve long-running power imbalances between capital andlabour

The construction of trade unionism as a problem for Britishgovernments underlines the breakdown of the PWC andgrowing anxiety about Britains post-war economic performanceand the weakening of social cohesion


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Conclusions

Industrial partnership was a key pillar of post-war consensus

Industrial relations posed major problems forLabour and the Conservatives

Thatcherism promises decisive break withpost-war industrial relations treating theunions as the enemy within

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Lecture 10 Trade Unions(1)