ABSTRACT
In the years before 1914 the British railway industry was highly labour intensive. The success of the labour management policies of the railway companies during the half century following the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 was reflected in the extremely weak state of trade union organization in those years. The General Railway Workers' Union (GRWU) founded in 1889-90 reflected the impact of the New Unionism on the railway industry. The railway companies used a variety of arguments to justify their refusal to negotiate with the unions. In common with the shipowners, railway general managers maintained that trade unionism was incompatible with the strict military-style discipline which it was necessary to enforce if the safety of the travelling public and the staff was to be assured. The Railway Regulation Act 1889 obliged all companies to introduce expensive systems of interlocking signals and points and to install continuous brakes on passenger trains.
