by more than ten per cent ; Huddersfield and Oldham sought to raise the maxi- mum sum receivable in any one year ; Barrow, Halifax, and Liverpool asked that travellers should be allowed sixpence per night instead of fourpence ; Oldham tried largely to increase the scale of superannuation allowances, and to raise the Accident Grant from ;^50 to ;^ioo ; St. Helens and many other branches demanded a ten per cent increase of the sick benefit ; whilst Brighton, Keighley, and Wakefield proposed to raise the funeral money from
^io to £\2. On the other hand, Chelsea proposed a
reduction of the entrance fee by 33 per cent, whilst Gloucester sought to lower it by one-half ; Liverpool would take in men up to the age of 45, instead of stopping at 40; and Wakefield suggested the abandonment of any medical examination at entrance.^ Fortunately for the Ironfounders, their officers, with the statistical tables at their back, were able to stave off most of these pro- posals. But even responsible officials are forced to pay heed to this reckless competition. Thus in 1885, when certain branches of the Steam - Engine Makers' Society, getting anxious about their old age, suggested that the provision for the superannuation benefit should be increased, the central executive demurred to raising the contribution, pointing out " the keen competition " for membership which they had to meet, "just as though we were engaged in commerce. In every workshop," they continue, "we have numerous societies to contend with, some of whose members
' Su^estioKS from Branches of the Friendly Society of Ironfounders … for consideration at the Delegate Meeting to be held in September 189 1 (London, 1891X
Interunion Relations 117
think that taking a man from another society and squeezing him into theirs is a valiant act. Many cases will occur to all, but we give one instance. We learned of the Pattern- makers' Association taking members of ours for an entrance fee of 5 s., placing them in benefit at once, and even giving them credit for ten years' membership, should they apply for superannuation in the future." ^ These examples enable us to understand why it is that the Trade Unions accumulating the largest reserve funds to meet their prospective liabilities are to be found in the trades in which a single union is co-extensive with the industry. Thus, among the larger organisations, the United Society of Boilermakers with a balance in 1896 of ;£^ 175,000, or ;^4 : 7 : 6 per head of its 41,000 members, towers above all other societies in the engineering and shipbuilding trades.
ifWe have dwelt in some detail upon the evils of com- petition between Trade Unions considered merely as benefit clubs, because this part of their function has secured universal approval. But assuming that the workmen are right in believing trade combination to be economically useful to them—assuming, that is to say, that the institutioh of Trade Unionism has any justification at all—the case against com- petition among unions becomes overwhelming in strength. If a trade is split up among two or more rival societies,^ especially if these are unequal in numbers, scope, or the; character of their members, there is practically no possibility] of arriving at any common policy to be pursued by all the branches, or of consistently maintaining any course of action, whatsoever. "The general position of our society in Liverpool," reports the District Delegate of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers in 1893, "is far from satisfactory, the work of organising the trade being rendered exceptionally difficult, not only by the existence of a large non-union element, but by the existence of a number of sectional societies. Here, as elsewhere, these small and unnecessary organisations
' Steam-Engine Makers' Society ; Executive Council Report on Revision oj Rules, 2SthJuly 1885.
r 1 8 Trade Union Structure
are the causes of endless complications and inconvenience, How many of these absurd and irritating institutions actually exist here I am ijot yet in a position to say, but the following are those with which I am at present acquainted : Smiths and Strikers (Amalgamated), Mersey Shipsmiths, Steam-Engine Makers, United Pattern-makers, Liverpool Coppersmiths, Brass -finishers (Liverpool), Brass -finishers (Birmingham), United Machine Workers, Metal Planers, National Engineers. All these societies are naturally inimical to our own, yet how long shall we be able to tolerate their existence is another question. … The Boilermakers would never permit any section of their trade to organise apart from them ; why we should do so is a question which will assuredly have to be settled definitely sooner or later." ^ The " small and unnecessary organisations" naturally take a different view. The general secretary of the United Pattern-makers' Association, in a circular full of bitter complaints against the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, thus describes the situation : " For the information of those who may not be intimately acquainted with the engineering trade, we may explain that the Pattern- makers form almost the smallest section of that trade—^the organised portion being split up into no less than four different sections [societies]—the largest section outside the ranks of the United Pattern-makers' Association belonging to the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. It will be easily understood that this division makes it very difficult for our society to act on the offensive with that promptitude which is often essential to the successful carrying out of a particular movement, as we have to consult with and obtain the co- operation of three societies other than our own ; and as our trade in these societies are in an insignificant minority, it is perhaps only natural that so far as the Amalgamated Society of Engineers is concerned, legislation for the trades that comprise the vast majority of its members should have a priority over a consideration of those questions which concern
' " Report of Oi^anising District Delegate (No. 2 division) of Amalgamated Society of Engineers" in Quarterly Report for quarter ended March 1893.
Interunion Relations 119
so small a handful as the Pattern-makers belonging to their society." ^ An actual example of the everyday working life of a Trade Union branch will show how real is the difficulty thus caused. "Our Darlington members," reports the Pattern- makers' Executive, " have been engaged in a wages movement which has had in one respect a most unsatisfactory termination. The ' Mais ' ^ and non-society men pledged themselves to assist our members to get the money up, until the critical moment arrived when notices were to be given in. The non-society element and the ' Mais ' then formed an ignominious com- bination, and declined to go any further in the matter, the Darlington branch of the ' Mais ' writing our Secretary to the effect that they would not permit their P.M.'s [Pattern- makers] to strike. They only number three, and the non- society men twice as many, so fortunately they could not do , the cause very much injury. The advance was conceded by every firm excepting the Darlington Iron and Steel Works, where oijr men were drawn out, leaving two ' Mais ' and their present allies, the non-society men, at work. Your general secretary wrote the executive committee of the ' Mais ' on the subject over three weeks ago, but so insignificant a matter as this is apparently beneath the notice of this august body, as no reply has yet been vouchsafed." ^
Trade Union rivalry has, however, a darker side. /When
the officers of the two organisations have been touting for members, and feeling keenly each other's competition, oppor- tunities for friction and ill-temper can scarcely fail to arise^ Accusations will be made on both sides of disloyalty and unfairness, which will be echoed and warmly resented by the
Circular of United Pattern-makers' Association (on Belfast dispute), 22nd
June 1892. The same note recurs in the Report of Proceedings of^ the Sixth Anntial Meeting of the Federation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades (Manchester, 1896). " As a consequence of their present divided state," said Mr. Mosses, the general secretary of the United Pattern-makers' Association, at this meeting, " they had one district going in for advances, foUovfed in a haphazard fashion by other districts ; and one body of men coming out on strike for the benefit of others v/ho remained at their work."
2 Members of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers.
3 Monthly Report of the United Pattem-makerf Association, September 1889,
