The National Union of General Workers (NUGW) was an early general union in the United Kingdom, the most important general union of its era.
History
The union was founded in 1889 as the National Union of Gas Workers and General Labourers by
gas works. Thorne was elected as the General Secretary, a post he held throughout the life of the union, and successfully argued that the organisation should campaign for an eight-hour working day, rather than an increase in wages. This demand was quickly won, and membership soon rose to over 20,000.[2]
While the union organised members across the UK, its main areas of strength were London and Lancashire. In London, Thorne was its best-known figure, followed by
Charles Dukes, Fleming Eccles and Arthur Seabury. It also had significant numbers of members in the north east, organised by Hugh Lynas, and in Scotland, where it was organised by John McKenzie. Its largest section of members worked in engineering, followed by gas workers, electricity supply, shipyard workers in the south of England and in Scotland. Other industries in which it had a significant membership included the metal trades in Sheffield and Birmingham, aluminium, asbestos and cement works, brickmaking, quarrying, boxmaking, chemicals, rubber, leather, and food and drink manufacturing.[3]
In 1916, the organisation renamed itself the "National Union of General Workers", merging with the
Unlike many other unions, the NUGW only had a small staff at its headquarters, consisting of Clynes, Jones, Thorne and Will Sherwood, later joined by Margaret Bondfield from the National Union of Women Workers.[3]
In 1924, the union joined with the
National Union of General and Municipal Workers.[4] Much of the leadership of the new union came from the NUGW, which adopted its districts. Eccles, R. H. Farrah, Hayday, William E. Hopkin, Tom Hurley, Lynas, McKenzie, Walt Wood and S. J. Wright all continued in post as district secretaries, Thorne continued as general secretary, and Clynes as president, while Bondfield, Jones and Sherwood were appointed as assistant general secretaries.[3]
Election results
The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in numerous Parliamentary elections, several of whom won election.
^Declan McHugh, Labour in the City: The Development of the Labour Party in Manchester 1918-31, p.196
^ abcdefghLabour Party, Report of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.255-272. Note that this list is of the sanctioned candidates as of June 1922, and there were some changes between this date and the general election.
^ abcdeClegg, H. A. (1954). General Union. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. pp. 304โ306.