Power in trade unions

SINCE the publication of Industrial Democracy by Sidney and Beatrice Webb in 1897 there has been remarkably little published analysis of British trade-union government in theory or in practice, despite the considerable constitutional adaptations that have occurred to cope with the increases in membership and the changes in industrial conditions under which unions have operated. What ever the reasons for this neglect there is undoubtedly a need for a comprehensive and systematic analysis of present-day union con stitutions and practices. This book goes part of the way towards satisfying that need. It is not a comprehensive account of trade union government: the mechanisms and procedures of trade-union branches, districts and areas, divisions or regions have not been examined. Full-time officials, other than national leaders, have been mentioned only in relation to the training process through which national leaders normally pass. The book is, as the title

suggests, devoted primarily to a study of national union leadership. The analytical section of the book is based on an examination of the constitutions of 127 trade unions affiliated to the Trades Union Congress, representing 98-8 per cent of its affiliated membership, and on the experiences of government in many of these unions.

- I would like to express my gratitude to the many trade-union students with whom it has been my pleasure to work during the last 4 years, and who, more than they realize, have assisted me to build up a body of knowledge about trade-union government. I am grateful, too, to the general secretaries of many trade unions who so willingly and without restriction have provided me with information about themselves, their predecessors and their executive councils. The Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers and Mr Stan Taylor, formerly its research officer and now an executive council man, have been particularly generous in providing me with unrestricted access to material for Appendix A.

My gratitude to my wife is not nominal: she has carried more than her fair share of family responsibility whilst the book has been written and in addition she has found time to check all the tables and to assist me with the compilation of the index, proof-correcting and the laborious job of checking the quotations. I would like to thank Miss Ellen McCullough for her constant encouragement and advice and for reading the typescript stage by stage.