7OUTSOURCE

Introduction

An organization of workers created to protect and advance the interests of its members by negotiating agreements with employers on pay and conditions of work. Unions may also provide legal advice, financial assistance, sickness benefits and education facilities.

What is Trade Union?
A trade union is an unincorporated association at common law which means that is has no legal identity of its own and only operates through its members. A trade union is defined by Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA) as

“…as organization (whether temporary or permanent), which consists wholly or mainly of workers of one or more descriptions and whose principal purposes include the regulation of relations of relations between workers’ association…”

What is an independent trade union?
A trade union, which is not under the domination or control of an employer and is independent from the employer financially. The Certification Officer maintains a list of trade unions and is responsible for determining whether a trade union or staff association is ‘independent’. Unions which prove that they are ‘independent’ will be granted a certificate of independence by the Certification Office.

Only independent trade unions can make statutory claims for recognition under the Schedule A1, Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (click here for more on trade union recognition).

What is an affiliated union?
Any independent trade union with membership in England and Wales may apply for affiliation to the TUC, and in Scotland to the Scottish TUC. Affiliated unions are entitled to send delegates to the TUC annual conference. Few unions of any size are unaffiliated. However, an independent trade union does not have to be affiliated to make a voluntary or statutory trade union recognition claim.

What are examples trade union duties?
These include duties concerned with negotiating or performing functions about:
• terms and conditions of employment
• engagement or termination of employment
• allocation of work
• matters of discipline
• union membership or non membership
• facilities for trade union officials
• Machinery for negotiations or consultation or other procedures.

History & Legislation and cases

National Union of Mineworkers
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century colliers in every coal-mining area attempted to form unions. Colliery owners refused to negotiate with these organizations and the colliers were invariably defeated. During this period miners obtained a reputation for militancy and were accused of being followers of the revolutionary doctrines of Tom Paine. In an attempt to avoid the Combination Acts early colliery unions went under the name of friendly societies. In the early part of the nineteenth century, there were 21 miner’s friendly societies in central Lancashire alone.

The 1830s saw a growing market for coal. This improved the bargaining position of the colliers and in 1831 and 1832 miners in Northumberland and Durham joined together to gain a reduction in hours and the abolition of the truck system. This encouraged miners from other parts of the country to form district associations.

With the development of the railways in the 1840s, it became increasing difficult for district organizations to apply the necessary pressure on colliery owners. In 1842 colliers formed the Miners Association of Great Britain and Ireland. Certain areas such as Yorkshire and East Midlands failed to join and the mass importation of strike-breakers during industrial disputes continued to undermine local unions.

In some mining areas important trade unionists began to emerge. In 1880 James Keir Hardie led the first ever strike of Lanarkshire miners. He also became secretary of the Ayrshire Miners’ Union and later, with the help of another outstanding union leader, Robert Smillie, helped establish the Scottish Miners’ Federation.

Miner’s leaders were aware that they needed workers from their industry to put their case in the House of Commons. In the 1874 General Election two miners, Alexander MacDonald (Stafford) and Thomas Burt (Morpeth) were elected. After the passing of the 1884 Reform Act most miners could vote in parliamentary elections. Colliery trade unionists were selected as Liberal Party candidates in several mining constituencies and six of them were elected to Parliament: Charles Fenwick (Wansbeck), William Crawford (Mid-Durham); John Wilson (Houghton); Ben Pickard (Normanton) and William Abraham (Rhondda).

In the summer of 1888 the price of coal began to rise. All over Britain miners began to talk about the need for a pay increase. When colliery owners rejected the claims of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association, its leader, Ben Pickard, sent out a circular inviting all miners “to attend a conference for the purpose of considering the best means of securing a 10% advance in wages and of trying to find common ground for action.” The Conference took place in Derby on 29th October, 1888 where the formation of a new national union was discussed but no agreement was reached.

Ben Pickard called another conference in Newport on 26th November 1889. Pickard selected Newport as it was fiftieth anniversary of the Chartist Newport Uprising. Those attending included James Keir Hardie, Thomas Burt, Herbert Smith, Sam Woods, Thomas Ashton and Enoch Edwards. At the conference it was decided to form the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). Officers elected included Pickard (president), Woods (vice-president), Edwards (treasurer) and Ashton (secretary).

From the beginning the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain attempted to have all the colliers’ trade unions united in a single body. South Wales joined in 1898 but Northumberland and Durham, with a quarter of all Britain’s miners, refused to become part of the MFGB. Negotiations continued and first Northumberland (1907) and Durham (1908) agreed to join. The membership of the MFGB was now over 600,000. This gave the MFGB tremendous strength in the Trade Union Congress, as the organisation represented over a quarter of all trade unionists in Britain.

The Miners’ Federation of Great Britain became the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on 1st January 1945. It now had a membership of 533,000. With the decline in the demand for coal, numbers in the industry continued to fall and by the early 1980s membership of the NUM was under 250,000. At the end of year 2000, the membership was 5001 as per WORKSMART UNION FINDER.

Legislation of Trade union acts
As a result of the 1926 General Strike, the Conservative Government passed the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act. This legislation outlawed general strikes and sympathetic strikes, and banned civil servants from joining unions affiliated to the Trade Union Congress. This act also hurt the Labour Party by forcing union members to make a positive decision to pay a levy to a political party. Instead of “contracting out” as stipulated by the 1913 Trade Union Act, union members had to “contract in”. As a result of this legislation, the Labour Party lost about a third of its subscriptions.

In 1925 the mine-owners announced that they intended to reduce the miner’s wages. The General Council of the Trade Union Congress responded to this news by promising to support the miners in their dispute with their employers. The Conservative Government, decided to intervene, and supplied the necessary money to bring the miners’ wages back to their previous level. This event became known as Red Friday because it was seen as a victory for working class solidarity.

Important Events & Issues
The Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, stated that this subsidy to the miners’ wages would only last 9 months. In the meantime, the government set up a Royal Commission under the chairmanship of Sir Herbert Samuel, to look into the problems of the Mining Industry. The Samuel Commission published its report in March 1926. It recognized that the industry needed to be reorganized but rejected the suggestion of nationalization. The report also recommended that the Government subsidy should be withdrawn and the miners’ wages should be reduced.