ABSTRACT

As for the general Unions, of the type represented by the T and G W and the N U G M W , the reason why they have developed on so vast a scale is plain They are largely a by-product of craft exclusiveness, for where the skilled workers were not prepared to admit the less skilled workers to their own Unions, the less skilled, if they were to organise at all, could do so only in separate Unions, and there was a strong case for making these open to a wide range of occupations in preference to setting up separate ' labourers ' Unions in each industry or occupation Such separate Unions, as the chequered history of Unions of Builders' Labourers shows, cannot easily maintain themselves alone They need large numbers and variety, in order that each group may be able to rely on the help of others when trouble comes As industrial Unions develop, the scope for general Unions becomes less, but as against this the growth of mechanisation brings into existence large bodies of machine-workers who can shift fairly easily from one industry to another-and the general Unions can cater most easily for workers of this type, as well as for the large mass of workers in scattered industries not clearly enough defined to maintain Unions of their own The general Unions are accordingly likely to remain very important

A Single General Union What is absurd is that there should be two of them, competing over

practically the whole range of industries and getting continually in each other's way What I should like to see is the splitting oft by agreement of the Transport Workers' section of the T and GW. from the rest, and the amalgamation of the remainder with the N U G M W to form a single Union open to all workers for whom no distinct effective craft or industrial Union exists The transport workers do not appear to be too happy inside the huge amorphous Union of which they form the central group, and there seems to be a good case for an industrial Union including all branches of transport except the railwaymen and perhaps the seamen I shall no doubt be strongly criticised for daring to suggest so drastic a change in the established Trade Union structure, but my task in this pamphlet is to write what I believe without taking too much care not to tread on important persons' toes

OUT of the 9½ million Trade Unionists, roughly 5½ million belong to the Labour Party as political contributors through their Unions' political funds, but only a tiny fraction of these contributing members plays even the smallest further part in the Labour Party's affairs or receives any account through his Union of what the Labour Party is doing, either nationally or locally. Of course, a substantial number of Trade Unionists join the

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE TRADE UNIONS ? 17 Labour Party as individual members, in addition to paying their Union levy, and these members can play as active a part as anyone else in the Labour Party's affairs, if they wish to do so But it remains true that the Labour Party membership of the great majority of affiliated members is purely nominal, and that most Trade Unions make no attempt to interest the contributing members in Party affairs or to give them any control over Party doings.