Blacksmiths, these objects, however desirable, are subordinate to some re - arrangement of the method or scale of remuneration > peculiar to his own occupation. \The solution of the problem is to be found in a form of organisation which secures Home Rule for any group possessing interests divergent from those of the industry as a whole, whilst at the same time maintaining effective combination through- out the entire industry for the promotion of the interests which are common to all the sections^j , „..^ ,1,^1
Foj^tunsrtely, we are not left to our imagination to devise a paper constitution which would fulfil these conditions. In another industry we find the problem solved with almost perfect success. We have already described the half- dozen distiriCt-classes into which the Cotton -Operatives are naturally divided. Each of these has its own independent union, which carries on its own negotiations with the employers, and would vigorously resist any proposal for amalgamation. But in addition to the sectional interests of each of the six classes, there are subjects upon which two or more of the sections feel in common, and others which concern them all. JTAccordingly, instead of amalgamation on the one hand, Vt isolation on the other, we find the sectional unions combining with each other in various federal organisations of great efficiencyN The Cotton- spinners and the Cardroom Operatives, flying always for
124 Trade Union Structure
the same employers in the same establishments, have [formed the Cotton - Workers' Association, to the funds of which both societies contribute. Each constituent union carried on its own collective bargaining and has its own funds. But it agrees to call out its members in support of the other's dispute, whenever requested to do so, the members so withdrawn being supported from the federal ,/und.^ The Cotton-spinners thus secure the stoppage of the material for their work, whenever they withdraw their labor, and thereby place an additional obstacle in the way of the employer obtaining blackleg spinners. The Card- room Operatives on the other hand, whose labor is almost pnskilled, and could easily be replaced, obtain in their disputes the advantage of the support of the indispensable I Cotton-spinners. No federation for these purposes would be of use to the Cotton -weavers, who often work for employers devoting themselves exclusively to weaving, and whose product goes to a different market, ^ut the Cotton-weavers join with the Cotton-spinners and the Cardroom Operatives in the United Textile Factory Workers' Association, a purely political organisation for the purpose of obtaining and en- forcing the factory and other legislation common to the whole trade^ And it is interesting to notice that the Cotton Operatives not only refrain from converting this strong and stable federation into an amalgamation, but even carry the federal form into the different sections of their industry. The ig.ooo Cotton -spinners, for instance, form a single fighting unit, which, for compactness and absolute discipline, bears comparison even with the United Society of Boilermakers. But though the Cotton-spinners call their union an amalgamation, the larger " provinces " retain the privilege of electing their own officers, and of fixing their own contributions for local purposes and special benefits, and even preserve a certain degree of legislative autonomy. The student who derives his impression of these organisa- tions merely from their elaborate separate rules and reports, 1 This organisation was temporarily suspended in 1896.
Interunion Relations 125
might easily conclude that, in the relation between the Oldham or Bolton " province," and the " Representative Meeting " of the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton-spinners, we have a genuine case of local and central government. This, however, is not the case. The partial) autonomy of the " provinces " of Oldham and Bolton is noti a case of geographical, but of industrial specialisation^ Each " province has its own peculiar trade, spinning different " counts " for widely different markets. Each is governed by its own peculiar list of piecework prices, based on different considerations. And though the prevailing tendency is towards a greater uniformity of terms and methods, there is still a sufficient distinction between the Oldham and Bolton trades themselves, and between those of the smaller districts, to make any amalgamation a hazardous experiment. Similar considerations have hitherto applied to the Cotton - weavers, who have, indeed, only recently united into a single body. Differences of trade interests, not easy of explanation to the outsider, have hitherto separated town and town, each working under its own piecework list. These sectional differences resulted, until lately, in organisation by loosely federated autonomous groups. It is at least an interesting coincidence that the increasing uniformity of conditions which, in 1884, per- mitted the concentration of these groups into the Northern Counties Amalgamated Association of Cotton-weavers, re- sulted, in 1892, in the adoption, from one end of Lancashire to the other, of a uniform piecework list.
U^e history of Trade Unionism among the Coalminers also supplies instructive instances of federal action- In Northumberland and Durham the present unions included, for the first ten years of their existence, not only the actual hewers of the coal, but also the Deputies (Overlookers), the Enginemen, the Cokemen, and the Mechanics employed in connection with the collieries. This is still the type of union in some of the more recently organised districts. Both in Northumberland and in
126 Trade Union Structure
Durham, however, experience of the difficulties of com- bining such diverse workers has led to the formation of distinct unions for Deputies, Cokemen, and Colliery (Mechanics. IlEach of these acts with complete independ- lence in dealing with the special circumstances of its own loccupation, but unites with the others in the same county in a strong federation for general wage movements.' p And if we pass from the " county federations which are so characteristic of this industry, to the attempts to weld all coal-hewers into aisingle national organisation, we shall see that these attempts have hitherto succeeded only when they have taken the federal form. In 1868 and again in 1874 attempts at complete amalgamation quickly came to grief. Effective federation^pf all the organised districts has, on the other hand, endured\ since 1863.^ B'V^e attribute this pre- ference for the federal form, not to the difficulty of uniting the geographically separated coalfields, but to the divergence of interests between the^i^ Nor^thumberland, Durham, and South Wales, producing chiefly for foreign export, feel that their trade has little in common with that of the Midland Coalfields, which supply, the home market. The thin seams of Somersetshire demand different methods of working, different rates of remuneration, and different allowances, from those in vogue in the rich mines of York- shire. The " fiery " mines of Monmouthshire demand quite a different set of working rules from the harmless seams (A Cannock Chase.* It was, therefore, quite natural that, in 1887, when a demand arose for a strong and active national organisation, this did not take the form of an amalgamated union. [The Miners' Federation, which now includes 200,000 members from Fife to Somerset, is composed of separate
' The Durham County Mining Federation, established 1878, includes the Durham Coalminers, Enginemen's, Cokemen's, and Mechanics' Associations. The Northumberland associations have not established any formal federation but act constantly together.
' See History of Trade Unionism, pp. 274, 287, 335, 350, 380.
' See, for instance, the animated discussion on proposed clause to restrict shot-firing, National Conference of Miners, Birmingham, 9th- 12th January 1893.
Interunion Relations 127
unions, each retaining complete autonomy in its own affairs, and obly asking for the help of the federal body in matters common to the whole kingdom, or in case of a local dispute extending to over 15 per cent of the members^j Any attempt to draw tighter these bonds of union would, in all probahility, at once cause the secession of the Scottish Miners' unions, and would absolutely preclude the adhesion of Northumbei-land, Durham, and South Wales.*
' Other industries afford instances of federal union. The compositors employed in the offices of the great London daily newspapers, at specially high wages, and under quite exceptional conditions, have, since 1853, formed an integral part ol the London Society of Compositors. But they have, from the beginning, had their own quarterly meetings, and elected their own separate executive committee and salaried secretary, who conduct all their distinctive
