ABSTRACT
Trade rules and traditions further augmented craft autonomy within the workplace, creating in workshops where craft and craft workers were in the ascendant, an 'inner workshop life' which was distinct from that of the Company. Many craft unions held trade/workshop-based events such as picnics and family outings to rival those provided by the Company. In 1881 a rather secretive workers organization which called itself, 'The Nine Hour Movement of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS)' circulated the railway company workshop with its call for shopmen to press for employer recognition of trade unions. Company-established welfare schemes also proved to be a means of both appealing and protesting to the paternalistic company. The first welfare scheme to be introduced into Crewe Works was the Works' Mutual Insurance Fund formed in 1881 to compensate Works men or their families, in the event of a man's death or injury.
