ABSTRACT
Trade unionism began in the Co-operative movement in small Unions in a few of the larger societies. As early as 1887 there are records of Employees’ Associations in Bolton and London. A turning point came in 1905 when that sturdy and influential co-operator, William Maxwell, a director of the Scottish Go-operative Wholesale Society, was President of the National Co-operative Congress at Paisley. During the war, the co-operative movement played an important national part as one of the great food distributing organisations. The role of the co-operative employee was also recognised as being of national importance. Wages scales in the co-operative movement at the end of the war showed advances on anything that had been known previously. The early agreements had provided for no limitation of hours, and no payment for the overtime which was one of the curses of the pre-war distributive trade. Amalgamation of Unions in the co-operative service has always had strong support.
