Rail Workers Vict Bankrupt Leaders

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Waterloo at a standstill in the 1911 rail strike wait this week for agence of a new So the rail unions some interest to les the historical es that have to mould the world bert day railway • workers and foss have been at furt of many of the i struggles of the or-ing class. It was *a workers who nic the famous •cade union rights let Vale Company Ferg months of and other ideas were i a setting up the NUP in 1914. It • NUR that first I camoral strike in a al sections of -sers were at ho=: of the General LASEF who broke !e: retural strike La strike in Tur NUR EF =÷÷:

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And the industry with the first "industrial' union attempting to cover all grades has also been the one most characterised by 'craft snobbery' and inter-union division.

It is not possible to deal with all these events in railway and trade union history in a short article like this, but it is possible to point to some trends that remain relevaht to this When the railway system was built by the first 'navvies' in the 1830s and 1840s its construction represented a new phase in industrial capitalism. Profits were never high and rationalisation and amalgamation came almost from the start.

Nationalisation was supported well before the end of the 19th century by capitalist politicians like WE Gladstone.

This even before there was great competition from the motor car and the road systems. railways were ince: constant economic Tris helps to railway panicu139580÷20003i0: 373 = otte= pariazentay where support could more easily be obtained.

Railway workers in the late 19th century were able to gain easier working conditions and shorter working hours through legislation. They even got support from Lloyd George and the post 1906 Liberal government to put pressure on the employers to set up a 'Conciliation Board' in 1907, and eventually to agree to negotiate with the unions following a national two-day strike in 1911.

Liberal MP

It is not entirely surprising therefore that Richard Bell who was General Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants from 1897 to 1910 was a strong supporter of the Liberal Party - indeed he was a Liberal MP. However his members became more and more convinced that they had little to gain from such a political stance.

The consequences of the Taff Vale strike of 1900 after which the ASRS had to pay over £28,000 for the crime of going on strike changed all that.

Ratmas workers and -ari chers realised that :.=: •carded indepen...: 37 и астод.

Te feeling was furtber =-cored in 1908 when a certai- Victor osborne. a member of the union and a Liberal, got a legal judgement againt the union's financing of independent Parliamentary candidates. This campaign reaforced support . for independent labour representation amongst trade unionists as a whole and helped to radicalise railway workers in particular.

The old Liberal General Secretary Bell went in 1910 and support for stronger trade unionism resulted in the setting up of the NUR in 1914. The Union supported the Triple Alliance with Miners and Engineers for mutual support in disputes. It was in the forefront in the 'Definitive. Strike' of 1919. This was the first national general strike ever called by a union in Britain. It caused significant political crisis and was largely successful in terms of its demands on wages and conditions.

This was not the end of militancy of railway workers in this period. In 1919 the Railway Clerks Association secured recognition. (This has been known as the Transport Salaried Staff Association (TSSA) since 1951, and was the pioneer white collar union with strong links in the labour movement as a whole though at times a conservative force within railway trade unionism).

In 1924 ASLEF ran a national strike in a successful effort to maintain the differentials of drivers, though NUR members worked normally.

In 1926 all sections of railway workers, including the white collar group, supported the miners in the General Strike and many suffered victimis in as a result.

Nevertheless, the railway workers suffered in this period under a leadership unworthy of the struggles of union members. John Bromley, General Secretary of ASLEF from 1914 to 1936, who appeared on many left wing platforms in the early '20s moved rapidly to the right after 1926, preaching the special privileges of his members.

Stuffed shirt

The NUR for their part had the misfortune to be inflicted with Jimmie Thomas as General Secretary from 1916 to 1931. Thomas, ! collaborat art, was Stuffed S ists and amused ci invidivida the aris with wha closely ast He sper General S trying to s his perso not succe way wort ised as ar of the stre • Wa In the! tions, the steam n comparat wage le When t* nationali nobody a all the of received sation. osity railway In the the NU compelle bers to ce pitiful wa in the y out on al first cal since the NUR 1 drivers - as