The National Union of General Workers (NUGW) was an early

general union A general union is a trade union (called ''labor union'' in American English) which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organisation or a particular sector, as in a craft union or industrial union. A gene ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the most important general union of its era.

History

The union was founded in 1889 as the National Union of Gas Workers and General Labourers by

Will Thorne William James Thorne CBE (4 October 1857 – 2 January 1946) was a British trade unionist, activist and one of the first Labour Members of Parliament. Early years Thorne was born in Hockley, Birmingham, on 8 October 1857. His father and othe ...

, Ben Tillett and William Byford, following lay offs at

Beckton Beckton is a suburb in east London, England, located east of Charing Cross and part of the London Borough of Newham. Adjacent to the River Thames, the area consisted of unpopulated marshland known as the East Ham Levels in the parishes of Barki ...

gas works A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

. Thorne was elected as the General Secretary, a post he held throughout the life of the union, and successfully argued that the organisation should campaign for an eight-hour working day, rather than an increase in wages. This demand was quickly won, and membership soon rose to over 20,000.National Union of Gasworkers
Spartacus Educational While the union organised members across the UK, its main areas of strength were London and Lancashire. In London, Thorne was its best-known figure, followed by Pete Curran, Arthur Hayday, Jack Jones and Harry Picard, while in Lancashire its main figures were J. R. Clynes, Charles Dukes,

Fleming Eccles Fleming Eccles (1871 or 1872 – March 1925) was a British socialist politician and trade unionist. Born in Blackburn,''Social Democrat'', March 1925, p.18 Eccles worked as a weaver and was promoted to become an overlooker. He also took an intere ...

and

Arthur Seabury Arthur E. Seabury (1878–1953) was a British trade unionist and politician. Career Seabury lived in Warrington and became prominent in the British Socialist Party. In 1916, he chaired the party's conference. The party later affiliated to th ...

. It also had significant numbers of members in the north east, organised by Hugh Lynas, and in Scotland, where it was organised by John McKenzie. Its largest section of members worked in engineering, followed by gas workers, electricity supply, shipyard workers in the south of England and in Scotland. Other industries in which it had a significant membership included the metal trades in Sheffield and Birmingham, aluminium, asbestos and cement works, brickmaking, quarrying, boxmaking, chemicals, rubber, leather, and food and drink manufacturing. In 1916, the organisation renamed itself the "National Union of General Workers", merging with the Amalgamated Union of Machine and General Labourers. Further mergers followed, principally with the British Labour Amalgamation, the Amalgamated Society of Gas, Municipal and General Workers, the Amalgamated Enginemen, Cranemen, Boilermen, Firemen and Wire Rope Workers Union and the National Federation of Women Workers. This last merger was particularly significant, as it brought 30,000 women into the union. Unlike many other unions, the NUGW only had a small staff at its headquarters, consisting of Clynes, Jones, Thorne and Will Sherwood, later joined by

Margaret Bondfield Margaret Grace Bondfield (17 March 1873 – 16 June 1953) was a British Labour Party politician, trade unionist and women's rights activist. She became the first female cabinet minister, and the first woman to be a privy counsellor in th ...

from the National Union of Women Workers. In 1924, the union joined with the

National Amalgamated Union of Labour The National Amalgamated Union of Labour (NAUL) was a general union in the United Kingdom. History The trade union was founded in Feb 1889 as the United Tyne and District Labourers Association and in March 1889 the Amalgamated Society of Shipyar ...

and the Municipal Employees Association to form the National Union of General and Municipal Workers.Arthur Ivor Marsh et al, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', p.486 Much of the leadership of the new union came from the NUGW, which adopted its districts. Eccles, R. H. Farrah, Hayday,

William E. Hopkin William Edward Hopkin (28 January 1888 – 23 September 1953) was a Welsh trade union leader. Hopkin became active in the National Union of Gas Workers and General Labourers, and began working full-time for the union in 1911. He served with the ...

, Tom Hurley, Lynas, McKenzie, Walt Wood and S. J. Wright all continued in post as district secretaries, Thorne continued as general secretary, and Clynes as president, while Bondfield, Jones and Sherwood were appointed as assistant general secretaries.

Election results

The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in numerous Parliamentary elections, several of whom won election.

Presidents

:1889: Mark Hutchins :1891: Will Watkinson :1894: Pete Curran :1910: J. E. Smith :1912: J. R. Clynes

References

{{GMB (trade union) 1889 establishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions disestablished in 1924 Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom GMB (trade union) amalgamations Trade unions established in 1889 Trade unions based in London