David Clive Jenkins (2 May 1926 – 22 September 1999) was a British trade union leader. "Organising the middle classes", his stated recreation in ''
Who's Who
''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...
'', sums up both his sense of humour and his achievements in the
British trade union movement
Trade unions in the United Kingdom were first decriminalised under the recommendation of a Royal commission in 1867, which agreed that the establishment of the organisations was to the advantage of both employers and employees. Legalised in 18 ...
.
Early life
He was born in
Port Talbot
Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...
,
Glamorgan
, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Motto ...
, Wales. His father was a railway worker, and his brother, Tom, became leader of the
Transport Salaried Staffs' Association
The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) is a trade union for workers in the transport and travel industries in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its head office is in London, and it has regional offices in Bristol, Derby, Dublin, Manche ...
. On leaving
Port Talbot County School
Glan Afan Comprehensive School () was a mixed comprehensive school which served the town of Port Talbot, Wales, and its surrounding areas for 120 years. It was opened in 1896 as Port Talbot Intermediate School under the provisions of the Welsh I ...
in 1940 at the age of 14, when his father died, he started work in the laboratory at a metalworks and continued his education by taking evening classes at
Swansea Technical College
, students = 5,765
, undergrad = 4,520
, postgrad = 1,075
, other = 175 further education, FE
, city = Swansea
, country = Wales, UK
, campus = Urban
, address = Mount PleasantSw ...
. Three years later, he was in charge of the lab. Two years after that, he was a night shift foreman.
Union career
Jenkins had early involvement in his trade union, the
Association of Scientific Workers
The Association of Scientific Workers (AScW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. It was founded as the National Union of Scientific Workers in 1918, changing its name to the Association of Scientific Workers in 1927.
The union largely rep ...
(AScW), and become a lay official in 1944, when he was elected as secretary of his branch. In 1946, at the age of 20, he left Port Talbot to become a full-time official at the
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
office of the
Association of Supervisory Staff, Executives and Technicians
The Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Technicians (ASSET), was a British trade union, chiefly representing supervisors in the metal working and transport industries. It was formed from the National Foremen's Association, found ...
(ASSET), where he was appointed assistant divisional secretary. He was at that time a member of the
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...
.
In 1951, he organised his first major national dispute, a strike at
Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
that caused
British European Airways
British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974.
BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...
to cancel more than 800 flights.
Moving almost immediately to the head office, he received rapid promotion: as national officer in 1954, deputy general secretary in 1957, and general secretary in 1961.
Then, ASSET had 23,000 members, which later increased to 50,000 by 1969, when ASSET merged with AScW, to form ASTMS (the
Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs
The Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) was a British trade union which existed between 1969 and 1988.
History
The ASTMS was created in 1969 when ASSET (the Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Techni ...
). ASSET and Jenkins were the senior partner. In the new union, he was joint general secretary (with John Dutton) of AScW, but by 1970, he was sole general secretary with a vision of what "his" union could become.
By the use of advertising (billboard posters were previously unheard of in the movement), he brought trades unionism to the middle classes. Within 15 years, ASTMS grew from an initial membership of 65,000 to a figure approaching 500,000.
Jenkins kept himself (and ASTMS) in the public eye, with frequent appearances on television chat shows and his own regular newspaper columns. His wit and turn of phrase ensured that even his opponents would certainly remember him.
However, his brash character ensured that more staid trade union leaders kept him off the
General Council of the TUC The General Council of the Trades Union Congress is an elected body which is responsible for carrying out the policies agreed at the annual British Trade Union Congresses (TUC).
Organisation
The council has 56 members, all of whom must be proposed ...
. until 1974. He even became its chairman, from 1987 to 1988.
Involvement in politics
A Labour government, under
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
, was elected in 1974. Jenkins was then appointed to the
National Research and Development Council
The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of Marg ...
(NRDC), from 1974 to 1980. He sat on the committee that produced the
Bullock Report (Industrial democracy)
The ''Report of the committee of inquiry on industrial democracy'' (1977) Cmnd 6706, also the Bullock Report for short, was a report proposing for a form of worker participation or workers' control, chaired by Alan Bullock. The idea was seen by s ...
(1975–1977) as well as on the board of the
British National Oil Corporation
Britoil plc was originally a privatised British oil company operating in the North Sea. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company was acquired by BP in 1988, becoming a brand of it.1975 referendum on Britain's membership of the
EEC
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
, Jenkins campaigned for Britain to leave the EEC.
Following the Labour Party's heavy defeat in the 1983 election, Jenkins was instrumental in getting
Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...
nominated to the leadership of the party. In 1988, shortly after ASTMS merged with TASS (the
Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section
The Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS) was a British trade union.
History
The union was founded in 1913 by 200 draughtsmen, as the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen (AESD). It expanded rapidly, and ...
) to form MSF (
Manufacturing, Science and Finance
Manufacturing, Science and Finance (or the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union; almost exclusively known as MSF) was a trade union in Britain. Over eighty members of Parliament (primarily members of the Labour Party) were members.
Histor ...
), Jenkins unexpectedly announced his retirement. He wrote an autobiography, ''All Against The Collar'' (1990).
Retirement
Upon retiring, Jenkins ran a
bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...
in
St Helens, Tasmania
St Helens is the largest town on the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia, on Georges Bay. It is known as the game fishing capital of Tasmania and is also renowned for its oysters (as are some other areas of Tasmania). It is located on the Ta ...
, before he returned to Britain.
Bibliography
*''British Airlines: a study of nationalised civil aviation'' (1953). Fabian Research Series, no 158. London: Victor Gollancz.
*''Power at the Top: a critical survey of the nationalised industries'' (1959). London: MacGibbon & Kee.
*''Germany’s Balance of Influence: the changing situation in NATO'' (1960). London: Union of Democratic Control.
*''Power behind the Screen: ownership control and motivation in British commercial television'' (1961). London: MacGibbon & Kee.
*''British Trade Unions today'' (1965). Oxford: Pergamon Press (with James Edward Mortimer)
*''Collective bargaining: what you always wanted to know about trade unions and never dared to ask'' (1977). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. . (with Barrie Sherman).
*''Computers and the unions'' (1977). London: Longman. (with Barrie Sherman).
*''White-collar unionism: the rebellious salariat'' (1979). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. (with Barrie Sherman).
*''The collapse of work'' (1979). London : Eyre Methuen. (with Barrie Sherman).
*''The leisure shock'' (1981). London : Eyre Methuen. (with Barrie Sherman).
*''All against the collar: struggles of a white collar union leader'' (1990). London: Methuen.
Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...