Anderson, Ian Gareth (1999) Scottish Trade Unions and Nationalisation, 1945-1955 : a Case Study of the Coal Industry
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Anderson, Ian Gareth (1999) Scottish trade unions and nationalisation, 1945-1955 : a case study of the coal industry. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8437/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Scottish Trade Unions and Nationalisation, 1945 - 1955. A Case Study of the Coal Industry Submitted to the University of Glasgow in fulfilment of the requirements for a Ph.D. Ian Gareth Anderson Department of Economic and Social History September 1999 © Ian Gareth Anderson, 1999. Abstract This thesis contends that the historiographical boundaries and focus of labour history, political history, of policy making and nationalisation have resulted in an incomplete understanding of trade unions attitudes towards, and influence upon, post-war British economic policy. In particular, the predominant concern of labour historians with strike patterns and their causes, particularly within the coal industry, has been at the expense of other forms of trade union activity. Whilst the more general historiography of the period and that of policy making address these issues, they do not tend to do so below the peak level organisation of the TUC and of Whitehall and Westminster. This has lead to miners unions being portrayed as a somewhat monolithic organisation predominantly concerned with disputes, strike prone with poor industrial relations, but politically conservative and generally supportive of the Labour Party and Government policy. In taking a multi-level analysis, with particular emphasis on Scotland, and examining the evidence from the NUM's interaction with Government, party, National Coal Board and the industry'S conciliation and consultative machinery, this thesis argues that a more diverse pattern of trade union attitudes and influence existed. It is suggested that the TUC had a relatively minor role to play in the development of coal nationalisation policy after 1947. Furthermore, the national level of the NUM was unable to adapt fully to its new-role under nationalisation because areas such as Scotland continued to exercise considerable power and influence. In this it is demonstrated that Scotland could take a divergent attitude to the national level of the 11 union, particularly over wages, and ultimately meet with some success. The Scottish Area of the NUM also displayed poorer industrial relations to the national and local levels. In particular, the evidence from colliery level consultation demonstrates that there was a more positive and constructive side to local union activity within the nationalised industry than the focus on disputes hitherto suggested. Therefore, this thesis concludes that there is sufficient evidence from the experience of the NUM to suggest that a more complex and diverse pattern of trade union behaviour existed between 1945 and 1955 in the nationalised coal industry. However, this pattern is not so rooted in any Scottish cultural explanation, or contradictory to existing interpretations, as to preclude its broader applicability to other areas of the coal industry or unions in other nationalised industries. 111 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VI LIST OF TABLES VII LIST OF GRAPHS VIII ABBREVIA TIONS IX INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE THE DEVLOPMENT OF NATIONALISATION POLICY TO 1945 INTRODUCTION 33 II NATIONALISATION POLICY IN THE 1920s 38 III NA TIONALISATION POLICY IN THE 1930s 48 IV VALUES AND VIEWS ON NATIONALISATION: THE LABOUR PARTY AND TUC 52 V VALUES AND VIEWS ON NA TIONALISAT10N: THE STUC 68 VI CONCLUSION 75 CHAPTER TWO NATIONALISATION POLICY 1945 -1955 INTRODUCTION 78 II THE TUC AND EXISTING NATIONALSIATION POLICY 83 III THE TUC AND FUTURE NATIONALISATION POLICY 94 IV THE STUC AND NATIONALISATION POLICY 128 V CONCLUSION 133 CHAPTER THREE THE NUM NATIONAL EXECUTIVE, NCB AND GOVERNMENT INTRODUCTION 136 II THE NUM ANDTHE CHALLENGE OF NATIONALISATION 142 III CREATING A NATIONALISED INDUSTRY 146 IV THE FIVE DAY WEEK 157 V HOLIDAYS WITH PAY 165 VI CONCLUSION 166 CHAPTER FOUR THE NATIONAL UNION OF MINEWORKERS SCOTTISH AREA AND NATIONAL POLICY INTRODUCTION 168 II THE NUMSA AND THE MINERS' CHARTER 171 IV III THE NUMSA AND NATIONAL WAGES POLICY 175 IV PRODUCTION, ORGANISATION AND TACTICS 216 V CONCLUSION 226 CHAPTER FIVE THE NATIONAL UNION OF MINEWORKERS SCOTTISH AREA INTRODUCTION 228 II THE SCOTTISH DIVISIONAL COAL BOARD AND THE NUMSA 232 III THE NUMSA AND SDB RELATIONS 237 IV THE NUMSA AND THE SDB 246 V THE NUMSA AND DISPUTES 262 VI WAGES 279 VII CONCLUSION 294 CHPATERSIX THE NUM AT LOCAL LEVEL INTRODUCTION 296 II COLLIERY CONCILIATION AND CONSULTATION: THE BACKGROUND 303 III COLLIERY CONCILIATION: THE EVIDENCE FROM SCOTLAND 311 IV COLLIERY CONSULTATION: THE EVIDENCE FROM SCOTLAND 326 V CONCLUSION 347 CONCLUSION 350 APPENDICES 362 BIBLIOGRAPHY MANUSCRIPT SOURCES 370 PARLIAMENTARY AND GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS 378 PAMPHLETS AND NEWSPAPERS 379 BOOKS, JOURNALS AND THESES 380 V Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the assistance of a number of individuals and institutions to whom I am extremely grateful. Firstly, I must acknowledge the financial assistance of the Economic and Social Research Council whose scholarship enabled me to undertake this study. My thanks are also due to the Checkland Memorial Fund, the Department of Economic and Social History and the School of History and Archaeology at the University of Glasgow who all provided additional financial support. My largest debt of thanks goes to my supervisor, Dr. Neil Rollings, whose patience I tried many times, but who was unfailing in his support, advice and constructive criticism throughout. To colleagues in the Department of Economic and Social History and Centre for Business History in Scotland at the University of Glasgow, Department of Economic History at Gothenburg University and the Association of Business Historians, I express my thanks for providing opportunities to present aspects of this work over the years. I would also like to thank the staff of the following institutions whose knowledge and expertise enabled made my archival research more fruitful: The Scottish Record Office and National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; Public Record Office, Kew; Modem Records Centre, University of Warwick; William Gallacher Memorial Library at the STUC, Glasgow; Museum of Labour History, Manchester; British Library of Political and Economic Science, London and the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange. The hospitality, encouragement and friendship of friends, relatives and fellow postgraduates were invaluable in sustaining me during the last four years. Last, but by no means least, I dedicate this thesis to my partner Lucy, without whose love and support a far less adequate thesis would have been produced. VI List of Tables Table 1.1. TUC and Labour collocate of socialism and socialist Table 1.2. Trade Union and Labour collocates of democracy Table 1.3. STUC occurrences of lexical stems of Scotland and Britain Table 5.1. Compromises reached between the SDB and NUMSA as a percentage of total disputes brought before the Divisional Disputes Committee Table 5.2. Statistical measures of total disputes before the Divisional Disputes Committee by year Table 5.3. Statistical measures of total compromises before the Divisional Disputes Committee by year Table 5.4. Spearman's roh correlation of disputes and compromises for the Divisional Disputes Committee Table 5.5. Percentage of disputes conceded by the SDB in the Divisional Disputes Committee Table 5.6. Percentage of disputes referred locally from the Divisional Disputes Committee vu Table 5.7. Percentage of disputes referred to the umpire from the Divisional Disputes Committee Table 6.1. Scottish and British output of saleable deep-mined coal Table 6.2. Scottish and British saleable tonnage lost by disputes Vlll List of Graphs Graph 5.1 Types of disputes before the divisional disputes committee by percentage IX Abbreviations AACP Anglo-American Council on Productivity Ace, Accession (in the NLS) BACM British Association of Colliery Managers BEC British Employers Confederation CINA Coal Industry Nationalisation Act, 1946 CPGB Communist Party of Great Britain DEC Dollar Export Council Dep. Deposit (in the NLS) EPB Economic Planning Board FBI Federation of British Industry GC General Council JNNC Joint National Negotiating Committee LPA Labour Party Archive MFGB Miners' Federation of Great Britain MLH Museum of Labour History MRC Modem Records Centre NACM National Association of Colliery Managers NACODS National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers NCB National Coal Board NEC National Executive Committee NFRB New Fabian Research Bureau NJAC National Joint Advisory Committee NLS National Library of Scotland x NPACI National Production Advisory Council for Industry NUM National Union of Mineworkers NUMSA National Union of Mineworkers Scottish Area NUSMW National Union of Scottish Mine Workers OMS Output per Manshift PLP Parliamentary Labour Party PRO Public Record Office RD Research