ABSTRACT
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) presence is regarded as vital on boards of public corporations and state agencies that cover a variety of functions. The war changed those strained, often difficult relations between TUC and government. Thanks to Citrine and, Ernest Bevin, who became Minister of Labour in Churchill’s coalition of May 1940, the trade union movement was brought fully into the decision-making processes. The sudden conversion of the Conservatives under Harold MacMillan in that year to the virtues of economic planning provided the TUC with an opportunity to play a more effective role. In many ways National Economic Development Council, with its unfashionable commitment to the middle way and consensus, exemplifies most of the strengths and weaknesses of the TUC itself. The British Steel scheme fell far short of what the TUC proposed in its 1974 plan for industrial democracy. The General and Municipal Workers also voiced its reservations about what the TUC proposed.
