The General Council of the Trades Union Congress is an elected body which is responsible for carrying out the policies agreed at the annual British Trades Union Congresses (TUC).
Organisation The council has 56 members, all of whom must be proposed by one of the unions affiliated to the TUC. Unions with more members receive an automatic allocation of seats, in proportion to their membership. Smaller unions propose candidates for eleven elected seats. In addition, there are separately elected seats: four for women, three for black workers, at least one of whom must be a woman, and one each for young workers, workers with disabilities, and LGBT workers. The General Secretary also has a seat on the council.Trades Union Congress, "General Council and TUC structure"
Some members of the council are further elected to serve on the smaller Executive Committee of the TUC. The President of the Trades Union Congress is also chosen by the General Council.
Although the TUC has long had links with the Labour Party, members of the General Council are not permitted to sit on Labour's National Executive Committee.
History 1921 to 1983 Until 1921, the leading body of the TUC was the Parliamentary Committee. This had seventeen members, but by the collapse of the Triple Alliance, it was considered ineffective and to have insufficient powers in industrial matters.
The new General Council had 32 members, elected from industrial groups, each consisting of one or more unions operating in a particular industry. Two of the places were reserved for women. It received additional powers to intervene in the case of major industrial disputes, and to resolve inter-union conflicts. In 1924, the Joint Consultative Committee was set up, which brought trades councils ultimately under the control of the General Council. However, these powers were not always exercised; many members of the council in the early years were elected on grounds of seniority, rather than recent accomplishments. Some were associated with left- and right-wing factions, although most were not strongly identified with a particular wing of the movement.
Changes to the groups and numbers of seats were made over time, as the number of workers represented in different industries fluctuated,Trades Union Congress, Report of Proceedings at the 83rd Annual Trades Union Congress, p.299 but the system survived intact until the early 1980s.
Group 1: Mining and Quarrying
Most of the members elected from Group 1 represented the large Miners' Federation of Great Britain, or its successor, the National Union of Mineworkers, but there were several smaller unions which often managed to win one seat.
Year Representative Union Representative Union Representative Union 1921 Robert Thomas Jones NWQU Robert Smillie MFGB Hugh Murnin MFGB 1922 Herbert Smith MFGB 1925 Thomas Richards MFGB 1927 A. J. Cook MFGB 1931 Herbert Smith MFGB Ebby Edwards MFGB 1932 John McGurk MFGB 1933 Peter Lee MFGB William Forshaw LCNWCEBBF 1934 Joseph Jones MFGB 1935 Will Lawther MFGB 1938 R. W. Williams NWQU 1946 Jim Bowman NUM Robert J. Jones NWQU 1950 Bartholomew Walsh NACODS 1950 Ernest Jones NUM 1954 Edwin Hall NUM 1957 Bartholomew Walsh NACODS 1960 Joseph Crawford NACODS Will Paynter NUM Len Martin NUM 1961 Fred Collindridge NUM 1963 Sidney Ford NUM 1971 Lawrence Daly NUM Representation reduced to two seatsTrades Union Congress, Report of the 103rd Annual Trades Union Congress, p.42 1973 Joe Gormley NUM 1980 Arthur Scargill NUM 1981 Ray Chadburn NUM 1982 Mick McGahey NUM
Group 2: Railways
Throughout this period, Group 2 comprised three railway unions: the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA). Each usually saw its general secretary elected to one of the three seats, although the abolition of one seat in 1969 left a battle between ASLEF and the TSSA for the second seat.
Year Representative Union Representative Union Representative Union 1921 Alexander Walkden TSSA J. H. Thomas NUR John Bromley ASLEF 1924 John Marchbank NUR 1925 J. H. Thomas NUR 1929 Charlie Cramp NUR 1933 John Marchbank NUR 1936 William Stott TSSA Richard Squance ASLEF 1940 Charles Gallie TSSA William P. Allen ASLEF 1944 John Benstead NUR 1947 Fred Bostock TSSA Jim Figgins NUR Jim Baty ASLEF 1948 George Thorneycroft TSSA 1953 Bill Webber TSSA Jim Campbell NUR 1955 Albert Hallworth ASLEF 1957 Sidney Greene NUR 1960 William Evans ASLEF 1963 John Bothwell TSSA Albert Griffiths ASLEF 1968 Percy Coldrick TSSA 1969 Seat abolishedTrades Union Congress, Report of the 1968 Annual Trades Union Congress, p.143 1972 Ray Buckton ASLEF 1975 Sidney Weighell NUR
Group 3: Transport (other than railways)
By far the largest union in Group 3 was the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), although representatives of the National Union of Seamen and a couple of minor unions often secured one seat.
Year Representative Union Representative Union Representative Union Representative Union Representative Union 1921 Harry Gosling ASWLB Ben Tillett TGWU Created 1930 Created 1968Trades Union Congress, Report of the 100th Annual Trades Union Congress, p.144 Created 1977Trades Union Congress, Report of the 109th Annual Trades Union Congress, p.27 1924 Joe Cotter AMWU 1925 Ernest Bevin TGWU 1930 John Beard TGWU 1931 William Robert Spence NUS 1935 Walter Farthing TGWU 1940 Arthur Deakin TGWU 1942 Charles Jarman NUS 1944 Bert Papworth TGWU 1947 Tom Yates NUS 1949 Albert McAndrews TGWU 1955 Jock Tiffin TGWU A. L. Hill TGWU 1956 Frank Cousins TGWU 1958 Len Forden TGWU 1961 Jim Scott NUS 1962 Bill Hogarth NUS 1965 Harry Nicholas TGWU 1966 Frank Cousins TGWU 1967 Bill Jones TGWU 1968 Jack Jones TGWU 1969 Harry Urwin TGWU 1970 Fred Howell TGWU 1972 John Slater MNAOA 1974 Jim Slater NUS Stan Pemberton TGWU 1977 Moss Evans TGWU 1978 Walter Greendale TGWU 1980 Larry Smith TGWU 1982 Derek Gray TGWU
Group 4: Shipbuilding
The Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers dominated Group 4, with various smaller unions gradually merging into it or the general unions.
Year Representative Union1921 ASB1936 ASB1948 ASB1965 ASB1977 ASB1980 ASB
Group 5: Engineering, Founding and Vehicle Building
Group 5 contained a large number of unions - 26 in 1934 - and while the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) reliably won at least one seat, unions like the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and United Patternmakers' Association (UPA) often won seats.
Year Representative Union Representative Union Representative Union Representative Union 1921 Alonzo Swales AEU Jimmy Rowan ETU Allan Findlay UPA Created 1968 1935 Harry Berry AEU George Walker Thomson AESD 1938 James Kaylor AEU 1941 Ernest Bussey ETU 1943 Jack Tanner AEU 1947 Wilfred Blackwell Beard UPA 1948 Robert Openshaw AEU 1954 William Carron AEU 1957 William Tallon AEU 1967 John McFarlane Boyd AEU Alf Roberts NUVB 1968 Percy Hanley AEF Hugh Scanlon AEF 1970 Len Edmondson AUEW 1972 Les Buck NUSMWCH&D 1975 Reg Birch AUEW 1977 George Guy NUSMWCH&D 1978 John McFarlane Boyd AUEW Terence Duffy AUEW 1979 Gavin Laird AUEW 1982 Ed Scrivens AUEW Gerry Russell AUEW
Group 6: Technical, Engineering and Scientific Year Representative Union Representative Union1968 Created 1968 Created 1974Labour Research, Vols.62-63, p.2351968 TASS1974 TASS ASTMS
Group 7: Electrical Year Representative Union1965 CreatedLabour Research, vols.54-55, p.1591965 EETPU1971 EETPU
Group 8: Iron and Steel and Minor Metal Trades The Iron and Steel and Minor Metal Trades Group was originally Group 6, but was renumbered in 1968. The Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) was the largest union in the group, and consistently held one of its seats. Until 1966, there was a second seat, held by the tiny National Union of Gold, Silver and Allied Trades (NUGSAT), and later by the National Union of Blastfurnacemen (NUB). There were many other small unions in the group - in 1934, it had 23 members.
Year Representative Union Representative Union 1921 Arthur Pugh ISTC William Kean NUGSAT 1935 John Brown ISTC 1945 Lincoln Evans ISTC Ambrose Callighan NUB 1947 Jack Owen NUB 1953 Harry Douglass ISTC Joseph O'Hagan NUB 1966 Reduced to 1 seat 1967 Dai Davies ISTC 1975 Bill Sirs ISTC
Group 9: Building, Woodworking and Furnishing
The Building, Woodworking and Furnishing Group was originally Group 7, but was renumbered in 1965. While there were initially a large number of unions in the group, the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers (AUBTW) and Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers (ASW) generally won the seats, and later became part of the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT), which dominated the group from the 1970s. The National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades Association (NAFTA) won a seat in the early years, and pursued an independent course throughout this period.
Year Representative Union Representative Union 1921 George Hicks AUBTW A. A. Purcell NAFTA 1928 Frank Wolstencroft ASW 1940 Luke Fawcett AUBTW 1949 Jack McDermott ASW 1952 George H. Lowthian AUBTW 1958 John C. Hill ASW 1959 George Smith ASW 1973 Glynn Lloyd UCATT 1979 Les Wood UCATT
Group 9: Cotton
The Cotton Group was the original Group 9; in 1968, it was merged into the Textiles Group. The cotton industry had a large number of small trade unions, and in 1934, the group had 46 members. Unusually, the majority of individual members of the unions were women, but the seats were always won by men, representing one of the three amalgamations to which most of the unions belonged: the Amalgamated Weavers' Association (AWA), the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners (AAOCS), and the Cardroom Amalgamation (CWA).
Year Representative Union Representative Union 1921 John William Ogden AWA Henry Boothman AAOCS 1930 James Hindle AWA 1936 William Wood AAOCS 1937 James Bell AWA 1938 Robert C. Handley AAOCS 1940 Alfred Roberts CWA 1945 Andrew Naesmith AWA 1953 Lewis Wright AWA 1963 Reduced to 1 seatReport of Proceedings at the 1961 Annual Trades Union Congress, p.509 1968 Merged into Textiles Group
Group 10: Printing and Paper
The Printing and Paper Group was originally Group 8, but was renumbered in 1968. Almost all of its members were involved with printing, and in the early years, the seat was contested by four larger unions: the London Society of Compositors (LSC), National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants (NATSOPA), National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers (NUPBPW), and Typographical Association (TA). Over the years, these undertook a series of mergers, forming new unions, including the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT).
Year Representative Union1921 TA1932 NATSOPA1945 NUPBPW1947 LSC1965 NATSOPA1975 SOGAT
Group 11: Textiles
The Textiles Group was originally Group 10: Textiles (other than cotton). Although there were a wide variety of unions - 18 in 1934 - the National Union of Textile Workers (NUTW), and then its successor, the National Union of Dyers, Bleachers and Textile Workers (NUDBTW), almost always won the seat. In 1968, the cotton group was merged in, forming Group 11: Textiles, and while the dyers generally won the seat (latterly as a section of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), the main cotton workers' union, the National Union of Textile and Allied Workers (NUTAW), held it for a few years.
Year Representative Union1921 NUTW1929 NUDBTW1939 NUDBTW1948 NUDBTW1957 NUDBTW1966 NUDBTW1972 NUTAW1975 NUDBTW1979 NUDBTW1982 TGWU
Group 12: Clothing