Chapter 3
1900-1917
In 1901 there were almost a quarter of a million people living in Newcastle and more than one hundred thousand in Gateshead, trade was good and unemployment low. This happy state was soon ended; shipbuilding fell sharply during the next two years and, during the summer of 1902, unemployment began to mount sharply and this was not eased for three years. By then the Liberal Party was about to win its great victory and begin the introduction of considerable radical social legislation. Massive strikes in 1908 resulted in the total loss in the United Kingdom of more than 10 million days in industrial disputes. After a brief respite in 1909 the loss averaged ten million in the next two years, reached the massive total of 40,915,000 in 1912, and in the following year again exceeded 11 million days. The Newcastle Trades Council was from the beginning helping the workers on strike not only on Tyneside, but the tailors in Dublin, the fishing trade at Grimsby and the miners in Yorkshire.
The Council maintained a fairly steady membership of between seven and eight thousand from more than forty trade union branches. One Annual Report survives from this period, 1907-08, and it describes the Council as offering “unique opportunities for the meeting together of the representatives of all trades, for the discussion of matters tending towards the creation of a real trades union spirit, such having a moral and educational value, calculated to be most helpful to trades organisation and the cause.” This report also provides us with the first full extant statement of the Council’s objects which they had been attempting to achieve over the previous thirty years or so:
“The objects of this trades council are, to establish a more intimate relationship between all branches of the operative classes, and for securing increased efficiency to the operation of Trades and Labour Unions, to watch over the interests of Labour in and out of Parliament, and on local bodies, and to support all measures or movements likely to be of advantage and a benefit to the workers generally; to foster and encourage existing societies in trades or occupations not already organised; to render assistance, where desired, to any such affiliated society, either by giving advice, deputations etc, and endorsing and issuing of ‘Appeals’ for assistance on their behalf during times of stress and struggle. In case of any dispute arising in connection with any of the affiliated Societies, either to resist encroachment on existing rates of wages or conditions of labour, or an effort to improve on the same, the Executive Committee are empowered to guarantee the co-operation of the Council, and in urgent cases to render assistance to such societies by way of consultation, deputations to employers etc, as may be deemed proper and advantageous by the Executive Committee and in the interests of the Society concerned ….”
(from the Annual Report of 1907-08)
The building trades were well represented on the Council, with delegates from the Operative Bricklayers, Carpenters & Joiners, Masons, Plumbers, Plasterers and Builders’ Labourers. The construction of new estates at Walker was the subject of much discussion and some unfavourable comparisons were made with the estates at Bournville, but the chairman of the Council “hoped [there would be] no attempt to discredit the Walker Garden City.” There was however strong criticism of the employment of plasterers on piecework. The newly established Labour Bureau was watched carefully in regard to the supply of non-union labour and the manager was invited to address the Council.
‘White-collar’ workers represented on the Council included two branches of Assurance Agents, three branches of the Shop Assistants, Theatrical Stage Workers (48 members) and Musicians. In 1911 the spokesman for the Musicians said that it was the Newcastle Trades Council that first gave them the encouragement to organise; they never lost the opportunity to try to ensure that trade union musicians were employed at various functions. In 1902 the Shop Assistants were seeking 6d an hour, while plasterers were then paid 9d an hour, and the normal hours of work in shops was 60-65 per week. The struggle to organise the shop workers continued and in 1921 some trade unionists were dismissed and the Council supported strikers at Byker.
The railway workers were to the fore in the trade union struggles of this period. At Newcastle the railwaymen had long received the support of the Council, which continued its support in the efforts of these trades to secure the recognition of their unions by the employers in 1907. The North East railway companies were first amongst those giving recognition to the unions. The Electrical Trades Union continued its affiliation and other new unions included the Telephone Employees and the Postmens’ Federation of Gateshead.
The metal working trades were far less well represented than the Council would have wished; two branches of the ASE, one each of the Iron Founders, the Sheet Iron Workers and the Smiths & Strikers, and none from the Boilermakers in 1907-08. However the engineer W Hair was playing a leading role in the Council and was treasurer for many years, and engineering topics were frequently discussed. The introduction of only one break for the mid-day meal, so eliminating the ‘breakfast break’, was discussed in 1907 when workers were resisting this. At this time there was a more general introduction and extension of “premium bonus and feed & feed systems”: this had little appeal to the independent-minded Tyneside engineering workers who wished to stop it if possible; even the punched time-clock was resented as a replacement for the time-board at the gatekeepers’ office.
Reductions in wages were fairly general in 1908, when the North East Coast engineers attempted to resist a proposed reduction by declaring that 36s a week should be an absolute minimum regardless of the state of trade. They found little support from the national leadership of the ASE on this point and, although they struck, they were defeated. The Trades Council discussed the dispute and donated £1 to strike funds, but the conditions of trade limited significant help as it was explained “other bodies were too hard up themselves to contribute.”
Although engineering was for so long the preserve of men there were already young women in some North East drawing offices; in an area where relatively few women went out to work, it was the extension of women on the workshop floor which bothered the engineers. There was a “sharp discussion” in September 1912 when Hare was drawing attention to “the employment of … hundreds of women at the Elswick works … on capstan lathes and other machines.” Cries of “hear, hear” greeted the second ASE delegate who, without opposition, moved a resolution to draw the attention of the First Lord of the Admiralty and local MPs to “the existence of the evil and to its effect on male labour.”
Unemployment regularly concerned the Council, little wonder when in 1906, a relatively good year, trade reports were as follows:
Bad: plasterers.
Quiet: bricklayers, paviours, plumbers, tailors.
Fair: co-op enginemen, bakers, bookbinders, typographers, railways, building labourers.
Brisk: machine workers.
The Council reaffirmed its support for an 8-hour day and in the following year organised jointly with the ILP and the Labour Representation Committee a demonstration for the unemployed. lts Annual Report of 1907-08 which noted “the scarcity of employment … and serious dislocation in engineering and shipbuilding” condemned those whose overtime reduced job opportunities: “The right to work overtime – whilst your fellow men and women are starving – is a disgrace and should be made illegal.” This problem of overtime and considerable unemployment was to continue to haunt the Trades Council, apart from the years of war.
Day-to-day problems such as travel to work and the operation of the ‘fair wages’ clause in public contracts continued to engage the Council’s attention. It responded vigorously when moves were made which threatened to stop the Tyne Ferry, which would have caused much inconvenience to workers. The Trades Council was regretting, in 1907-08, its failure to obtain Sunday Music in the parks and complained that “this is not creditable to our City Council ….” The Council, as with other parts of the labour movement throughout the country, pressed for old-age pensions; and when Wilkinson retired in 1918 the winning of old-age pensions was for him one of the major successes of the movement. The Council was playing its part in the North East Federation of Trades Councils and in 1913 gave direct help to the trade unionists of Ashington, who were then establishing their own trades council. Considerable efforts were being made to establish “a Trades Hall and Institute”, which was said to be “a matter of prime importance” to the trade union movement.
The labourers and less-skilled trades were often badly hit by prolonged stoppages of craftsmen in this period, and suffered much from trade union rivalries which the Council tried to ease, but its own precedents were frequently a difficulty. The applications of the Gasworkers’ & Labourers’ Union for affiliation were regularly objected to by the National Amalgamated Union of Labour (NAUL), a long established Council member. Poaching was alleged in regard to the tramway workers, who had already suffered a setback in 1904, when one branch, whose secretary was a delegate to the Council, attempted to form a breakaway union. The discussions around such disputes were acrimonious and too rarely solved the issue, which was usually shelved. The immediate local points of trade union formation and growth created these problems, which in many cases became more difficult as the competing unions became stronger; but at least the Trades Council offered a common meeting place where some progress towards common policies could be sought. These problems were only partially solved by the later amalgamations which formed the two great general unions: the Transport & General Workers Union and the National General & Municipal Workers Union.
A major dispute at Elswick in 1913 resulted in a disagreement over negotiating rights between the Steel Smiths Association [Associated Blacksmiths? –Ed] and the NAUL. The labourers’ union was organising workers on metal production, and when the men struck work the Council supported them with an appeal for funds and a demonstration. The craft union objected, claiming the NAUL organisers did not understand the trade, and controversy raged for many weeks and was never wholly resolved.
The desire of the Trades Council to see workingmen in Parliament and on the local Council never slackened but relations between some of the leaders and the local Labour Representation bodies were not always happy. During September 1902 the Council urged local trade unions to affiliate to the local Labour Representation Committees, and pointed out that the cost was only 1d per member. There were frequent discussions on the selection of candidates, which tended to be “long and lively”, and shades of ‘Harris’ almost emerged when secretary Wilkinson was accused of allowing his name to appear on the poster of a man opposing a Labour candidate. Dissatisfaction was expressed when the LRC constituted itself as an executive committee to support Walter Hudson, instead of having a representative of each union as previously.
The photographs and brief biographies in the Annual Report of 1907-08 included not only local MPs such as Alex White, but also Ramsay Macdonald and Arthur Henderson. Wilkinson’s attitudes and fears found expression in that report when he wrote:
“It is also certain that much mischief has been done by some superficially-minded persons, who in order to ‘push’ an aggressive political movement, have declared that trade unionism is ‘played out’ …. Such hysterical drivel should be avoided by all who wish well of the advanced labour movement, for nothing is more certain [than] that the movement cannot be anything like successful without strong moral and financial support from the organised workers.”
When, a year earlier, the chairman of the Council proposed that they run their own candidates, Wilkinson’s main argument against was the likely high cost. The discontent continued throughout 1908, when a motion to disaffiliate from the Labour Party was amended to a decision to consult affiliated unions on the question. An unsuccessful attempt was made to prevent the sending of delegates to a ‘Right to Work Conference’ which the secretary described as “a political movement in which we should take no part” but only five delegates supported this viewpoint. In this period, from what remains of the records, there is little evidence of socialist ideas amongst the Council delegates, and secretary Wilkinson’s view appears to be one of general hostility.
It seems likely that the more politically conscious trade unionists of Gateshead may have felt this justified a separate organisation for their trades, and so in 1914 the Gateshead Labour Party & Trades Council was created. Certainly at this time Newcastle was not prepared to be so explicitly identified with the political function by adding Labour Party to its name.
The operation of the National Insurance Act had an important impact on trade unionism and in many cases increased membership as workers came in as members of ‘Approved Societies’. The Trades Council, in 1913, constituted itself as a “Vigilance Committee … to watch over the interests of the Workers under the Insurance Act.” The level of charges, especially in maternity cases, was discussed, as well as the attitudes of doctors participating in the scheme. The Shopworkers complained of the separate appointment hours for ‘panel’ and private patients. Wilkinson commented: “They wanted the doctors to understand that they had been treated well by a generous state and they expected from them the services for which they paid.”
There is little information on the Council’s activity during the First World War; smaller newspapers, primarily concerned with the war, gave scant attention to labour affairs unless they impinged on the war. Such reports as do appear indicate attention to economic rather than political issues. Late in September 1914 a resolution was passed and sent to the Government proposing three shifts daily at the Elswick Works instead of systematic overtime. Early in 1915 the problem was the sluggish operation of an agreement with the City tramway authorities, where some men were still only earning 18s a week while the norm was 26s-27s. Continuing the male job-protecting attitude, already noted for engineering, the Tramway Men declared their unwillingness to work with women conductors. Protests were registered in regard to the taxes on tea, sugar, coffee, cocoa and tobacco and voices were raised in favour of more “direct taxation”. The rising food prices, and the avarice of those who profited thereby, were condemned. Government action was called for to hold prices steady. An interesting sidelight was the difficulty of adequate trams, especially for the Elswick workers, and the Council actually supported the abolition of the 4d fare, which it was felt might ease pressure and provide the means of offering better pay to drivers, who were presumably seeking more rewarding war work.
The Council was concerned to repudiate the attacks made on workers of shirking and drunkenness, and indeed in July 1915 the Moulders in Council were asking to be released from jobs limiting them to a five-day week so that they could go on war work and a seven-day week. As early as April 1916 the Council organised a conference “to consider after the war problems as affecting organised workers”. Eighteen trades were represented at the meeting, at which a new recognition of the role of women emerged when WJ Smith (Plumbers) said they should be seeking the same wages for women as men. The main resolution was moved by P Anderson (Gas & General Workers) and seconded by GH Laraman (Iron Founders), which stated:
“That a Vigilance Committee can be formed from affiliated and non-affiliated trades and labour unions, to watch over trade union interests at present affected, and likely to be affected after the war, by, first the demobilisation of the services and the return of fellow trade unionists; second the reinstatement of fellow trade unionists and trade union conditions of labour; with special reference to the present emergency employment of (a) women workers and (b) refugee workers.”
By the time the war ended this committee had probably long ceased to be a viable entity but this is the first reference found to Laraman, who was to play a very prominent part in the Council’s affairs over the next ten years, including the general strike.
The revolutionary movement of 1917 was no doubt reflected within the Council but the only incident discovered was a discussion of a letter from “The Soldiers & Workers Council” inviting delegates to a Newcastle meeting. Laraman was in the chair and Wilkinson spoke out strongly against what he called “a Russian organisation” concerned with “anarchy and revolution”. A month later Wilkinson was speaking out against the Stockholm peace conference but there were delegates defending direct action by the workers. The matter was ended by a “disorganised closure vote”. The lack of any but the briefest reports of these discussions make judgements very difficult; all that perhaps can safely be said is that there were lively discussions and Wilkinson emerges as a defender of the ‘establishment’. He was by now an old man and suffering from failing eyesight, which required him in November 1917 to resign from his role in managing the Trades Hall. The following September he resigned as Trades Council secretary after more than 25 years’ service. A letter from the Lord Mayor read at his presentation of a “wallet of notes” recalled “the absolute and whole-hearted devotion of Mr Wilkinson in the cause of organised labour.” Like so many of these early trade union leaders, he had probably given almost all his non-working time to the trade union movement. Towards the end he may have had little sympathy with some new ideas but his dedication could not be questioned. His departure broke the last personal link with the Victorian era which largely shaped this man and indeed the Trades Councils.