ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the response of general unions to women as potential members and their negotiations on wom en’s pay. It argues that they did have an outlook different from that of both skilled unions and employers. As we shall see, their recruitm ent of women was not motivated solely by a concern for the livelihoods of existing male members. The ‘defensive incorporation’ of the First World War now com peted with a m ore positive approach to the organisation of women. At the same time, the TGWU and NUGW increasingly challenged the EEF’s gender-based system of pay, bas ing their claims for higher wages on other criteria. In spite of these moves, wom en’s unionism failed to grow significantly. The last sec tion of the chapter demonstrates, however, that it would be wrong to conclude, as some unionists did, that women were not interested in the defence of pay and working conditions. The circumstances
in which they worked and their experience of collective bargaining were m ore likely to encourage spontaneous and unofficial indus trial action than trade union membership.
