Trades Union Congress Totally Explained

Everything about The Trades Union Congress totally explained

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions. There are sixty-five affiliated unions with a total of about seven million members.
The TUC's decision-making body is the Annual Congress, which takes place in September. Between congresses decisions are made by the General Council, which meets every two months. An Executive Committee is elected by the Council from its members. The senior paid official of the TUC is the General Secretary, currently Brendan Barber.

History

The TUC was founded in the 1860s. The United Kingdom Alliance of Organised Trades, founded in Sheffield, Yorkshire, in 1866, was one of the forerunners of the TUC (though efforts to expand local unions into regional or national organisations date back at least forty years earlier; in 1822, John Gast formed a 'Committee of the Useful Classes', sometimes described as an early national trades council). However, the first TUC meeting wasn't held until 1868 when the Manchester and Salford Trades Council convened the founding meeting in the Manchester Mechanics Institute (located on David St, now Princess St). The fact that the TUC was formed by Northern Trades Councils wasn't coincidental. One of the issues which prompted this initiative was the perception that the London Trades Council (formed in 1860 and including, because of its location, many of the most prominent union leaders of the day) was taking a dominant role in speaking for the Trade Union Movement as a whole.
   Arising out of the 1897 Congress, a decision was taken to form a more centralised trade union structure that would enable a more militant approach to be taken to fighting the employer and even achieving the socialist transformation of society. The result was the General Federation of Trade Unions which was formed in 1899. For some years it was unclear which body (the GFTU or the TUC) would emerge as the national trade union centre for the UK and for a while both were recognised as such by different fraternal organisation in other countries. However, it was soon agreed amongst the major unions that the TUC should take the leading role and that this would be the central body of the organised Labour Movement in the UK. The GFTU continued in existence and remains to this day as a federation of (smaller, often craft-based) trade unions providing common services and facilities to its members (especially education and training services).
   As the TUC expanded and formalised its role as the "General Staff of the Labour Movement" it incorporated the Trades Councils who had given birth to it - eventually becoming the body which authorised these local arms of the TUC to speak on behalf of the wider Trade Union Movement at local and County level. Also, as the TUC became increasingly bureaucratised, the Trades Councils (often led by militant and communist-influenced lay activists) found themselves being subject to political restrictions and purges (particularly during various anti-communist witch-hunts) and to having their role downplayed and marginalised. In some areas (especially in London and the South East) the Regional Councils of the TUC (dominated by paid officials of the unions) effectively took over the role of the County Associations of Trades Councils and these paid officials replaced elected lay-members as the spokespersons for the Trade Union Movement at County and Regional level. By the end of the 20th century local Trades Councils and County Associations of Trades Councils had become so ineffective and weak that many had simply faded into effective dissolution.
   The TUC was the body which initiated the Labour Representation Committee in the late 19th century (which went on to become the Labour Party). The major TUC affiliated unions still make up the great bulk of the British Labour Party affiliated membership, but there's no formal/organisational link between the TUC and the party.
   The Scottish Trade Union Congress, which was formed in 1897, is a separate and autonomous organisation.

Bibliography

The History of the TUC (Trades Union Congress) 1868-1968: A pictorial Survey of a Social Revolution - Illustrated with Contemporary Prints, Documents and Photographs edited by Lionel Birch

List of members

A

The Abbey National Group Union (ANGU) (External Link)
ACCORD (External Link)
Alliance and Leicester Group Union of Staff (ALGUS) (External Link)
AMICUS (External Link)
Aspect (Association of Professionals in Education and Children's Trusts) [formerlyNational Association of Educational Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants (NAEIAC)]
Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) (External Link)
Association for College Management (ACM) (External Link)
Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) (External Link)
Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) (External Link)
Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) (External Link)
B

Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) (External Link)
Britannia Staff Union (BSU) (External Link)
British Air Line Pilots Association (BALPA) (External Link)
British Association of Colliery Management - Technical, Energy and Administrative Management (BACM-TEAM) (External Link)
British Dietetic Association (BDA) (External Link)
British and Irish Orthoptic Society (BOS) (External Link)
Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) (External Link)
C

Card Setting Machine Tenters Society (CSMTS)
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) (External Link)
Communication Workers Union (CWU) (External Link)
Community (External Link)
Community and District Nursing Association (CDNA) (External Link)
The Community and Youth Workers' Union (CYWU) (External Link)
Connect (External Link)
D

Derbyshire Group Staff Union
Diageo Staff Association
E

Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) (External Link)
Engineering and Fastener Trade Union (EFTU)
EQUITY (External Link)
F

FDA (External Link)
Fire Brigades Union (FBU) (External Link)
G

General Union of Loom Overlookers (GULO)
GMB (External Link)
H

Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) (External Link)
M

Musicians' Union (MU) (External Link)
N

NAPO
National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers (NACODS)
National Association of Co-operative Officials (NACO)
National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) (External Link)
National Union of Domestic Appliances and General Operatives (NUDAGO)
National Union of Journalists (NUJ) (External Link)
National Union of Marine, Aviation and Shipping Transport Officers (NUMAST) (External Link)
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
National Union of Teachers (NUT) (External Link)
Nationwide Group Staff Union (NGSU) (External Link)
P

Prison Officers Association (POA) (External Link)
Professional Footballers Association (PFA) (External Link)
Prospect (External Link)
Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) (External Link)
R

RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) (External Link)
S

Sheffield Wool Shear Workers Union (SWSWU)
SKISA (Skipton Staff Association)
Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists (SCP) (External Link)
Society of Radiographers (SoR) (External Link)
T

Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G) (External Link)
Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) (External Link)
U

UBAC (Union for Bradford and Bingley Staff and Staff in Associated Companies)
Undeb Cenedlaethol Athrawon Cymru (UCAC)
Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) (External Link)
Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) (External Link)
UNISON (External Link)
United Road Transport Union (URTU)
Unity (ceramics industry workers, formerly CATU)
University and College Union (UCU)
W

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) (External Link)
Y

Yorkshire Independent Staff Association (YISA)Further Information
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