The Midland Counties Trades Federation was a

trade union federation A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

bringing together unions involved in engineering in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

of England.

History

Richard Juggins was the general secretary of the National Amalgamated Association of Nut and Bolt Makers, the only full-time trade union official in the engineering industry in the West Midlands. As a result, he was often asked to represent the local engineering unions as a whole, and he decided that they should form a loose federation to organise this co-operation. In March 1886, Juggins organised meetings in

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...

and Darlaston to promote his idea, and delegates unanimously approved it. As a result, it was established on 12 May 1886, sharing headquarters in Darlaston with the Nut and Bolt Makers. The other founding unions were the Dudley Anvil Makers, and the Walsall Chain Makers. By the end of the year, its affiliates represented 1,000 members, but five years later, this had grown to 14,000 members in 66 unions. The federation supported a strike by the chain makers over the winter of 1886 and 1887, and although its aims were not achieved, affiliates believed that the support of the federation had aided recruitment and would result in longer-term benefits. The union also achieved wage increases for several local industries, and from 1889, wage boards were created in many of them. Membership of the federation slumped to only 4,000 in 1894, but then grew again to a peak of 19,500 in 1900, at which time, it had 45 affiliates. The federation considered sponsoring Juggins as a Liberal-Labour candidate for Dudley at the

1892 UK general election The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury again win the greatest number of seats, but no longer a majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won 80 more seats ...

, but affiliates were divided on the merits of the idea, so he did not go forward. In later years, it engaged more closely with Parliamentarians, and leaders including general secretary

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar may refer to: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 *John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) (178 ...

, president William Millerchip, and chain makers' leader Tom Sitch, all became prominent local councillors, but without formal backing from the federation. It attended the founding conference of the Labour Representation Committee, and in 1903, Taylor was asked to stand for the new party, but again, he was unable to secure the federation's backing and so declined.{{cite journal , last1=Wrigley , first1=Chris , title=Trade unionists and the Labour Party in Britain: the bedrock of success , journal=French Journal of British Studies , date=2009 , volume=XV , issue=2 , pages=59–72 In the 20th-century, membership of the federation fell away, as employment in the relevant industries dropped, and many affiliates merged into large unions. In addition, the federation did not cover the increasingly prevalent machine workers, who were seen as unskilled, and instead joined general unions, nor did it attempt to organise women, who were represented by the

National Federation of Women Workers The National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland active in the first part of the 20th century. Instrumental in winning women workers the right to a minimum wage for the first ti ...

. While membership rose around

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, it then declined again. The federation was finally dissolved in about 1941.

General Secretaries

:1886: Richard Juggins :1901:

References

Engineering trade unions Trade unions established in 1886 Trade unions disestablished in 1941 Trade unions based in the West Midlands (county)