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MFGB
The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was established after a meeting of local mining trade unions in Newport, Wales in 1888. The federation was formed to represent and co-ordinate the affairs of local and regional miners' unions in England, Scotland and Wales whose associations remained largely autonomous. At its peak, the federation represented nearly one million workers. It was reorganised into the National Union of Mineworkers in 1945. Founding conference and membership In 1888 after colliery owners rejected a call for a pay rise from the Yorkshire Miners' Association, several conferences were organised to discuss the possibility of forming a national union. At the conference held in the Temperance Hall in Newport, South Wales in November 1889, the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was formed. Benjamin Pickard of the Yorkshire Miners' Association was elected president and Sam Woods of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation (LCMF) its vice-president. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durham Miners' Association
The Durham Miners' Association (DMA) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded in 1869 and its membership quickly rose to 4,000, but within a year had fallen back to 2,000. In December 1870, William Crawford became the union's president, and was able to rebuild its membership, the DMA soon becoming the largest miners' union in the UK.Sidney Webb, ''The Story of the Durham Miners'' The union saw rapid success, with the abolition of the unpopular Yearly Bond in 1872, while a short strike in 1874 began a process of agreeing wages across the county. A longer strike in 1879 was unsuccessful in preventing cuts to wages, but action in 1890 ensured that the district was the first in the county to adopt a standard seven-hour day. The prolonged strike of 1892 against a proposed 15% cut in wages ended with an agreement to accept a 10% cut. In these early days, the DMA was part of the Miners' National Union, and supported Lib-Lab candidates; both Crawfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Union Of Mineworkers (UK)
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is an active albeit minor trade union for coal workers in Great Britain, formed in 1945 out of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). The NUM took part in three national miners' strikes, in 1972, 1974 and 1984–85. Following the 1984–85 strike, and the subsequent closure of most of Britain's coal mines, it became a much smaller union. It had around 170,000 members when Arthur Scargill became leader in 1981, a figure which had fallen in 2023 to an active membership of 82. Origins The Miners' Federation of Great Britain was established in Newport, Monmouthshire in 1888 but did not function as a unified, centralised trade union for all miners. Instead the federation represented and co-ordinated the affairs of the existing local and regional miners' unions whose associations remained largely autonomous. The South Wales Miners' Federation, founded in 1898, joined the MFGB in 1899, while the Northumberland Miners' Associatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Wales Miners' Federation
The South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF), nicknamed "The Fed", was a trade union for coal miners in South Wales. It survives as the South Wales Area of the National Union of Mineworkers. Forerunners The Amalgamated Association of Miners (AAM) was influential in South Wales during the early 1870s, but it collapsed in 1875. Of the AAM's various districts, only the Cambrian Miners' Association survived the collapse, but it steadily grew in membership, and other local unions were founded. The local unions disagreed over whether to negotiate wages as part of a "sliding scale", where pay rose and fell in line with coal export prices. This began to change in 1892, when the unions formed a joint committee. Its initial members were William Abraham, David Beynon, Thomas Davies, Daronwy Isaac, J. Jones, David Morgan, Alfred Onions and Morgan Weeks from the sliding scale districts, and David Ajax, John Davies, J. Edwards, Joseph Phillips and M. Williams from the non-sliding s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Woods (politician)
Sam Woods (10 May 1846 – 23 November 1915) was a British trade unionist and politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1890s. Born at Peasley Cross in St Helens, Woods began working in coal mining at the age of seven. He was elected as a pit checkweighman in 1875 and became strongly involved in trade unionism, joining the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation in 1881. When this merged into the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) in 1889, Woods became the organisation's first vice president. In the 1892 general election, Woods was elected as a Lib–Lab MP for Ince. In Parliament, he agitated for the Eight Hours Bill, and in 1894 he was elected as the Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). He lost his seat at the 1895 general election, but was re-elected for Walthamstow at a by-election in 1897. However, he lost the seat in 1900 following confusion over his stance on the Second Boer War. While ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lancashire And Cheshire Miners' Federation
The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation (LCMF) was a trade union that operated on the Lancashire Coalfield in North West England from 1881 until it became the Lancashire area of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain), National Union of Mineworkers in 1945. Background Colliery owners fended off unions until well into the 19th century and trade unionism was slow to take a hold on the Lancashire Coalfield. Wages were poor and employers arbitrarily fined men for minor reasons, disallowed wages on false pretexts and victimised perceived radicals. Bonds, a system of hiring that legally tied miners to their job for a year, were used to enforce discipline. Miners protested about poor wages in 1757 when bread prices rose and some marched from Kersal towards Manchester in protest, but were turned back. When trouble flared, the Home Secretary ordered troops to be ready to quell unrest. Long strikes were unsustainable as the miners had no organisation or finances to back the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Wales Miners' Association
The North Wales Miners' Association was a trade union representing coal miners in Wales. History The origins of the union lay in the North Wales District Meeting, a monthly meeting in Wrexham of representatives of workers from about sixteen collieries. In November 1889, the representatives decided to form the North Wales Miners' Federation, and by mid-1890 this included branches at 25 collieries, with a total of 7,793 members. It was noted that about 6,000 of these were members of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB), and soon the whole organisation affiliated. In 1891, the union elected Ioan Williams as its full-time agent. In 1894, the North Wales Quarrymen's Union affiliated to the association, increasing its membership by 13,000, although they soon left again. In 1900, the union decided to increase its membership dues, and this led a group of miners in Rhosllanerchrugog and Ruabon, led by Thomas Hughes, to break away as the Rhos Miners' Union. The remainder of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scottish Miners Federation
The National Union of Scottish Mineworkers (NUSW) is a trade union in Scotland, founded in 1894 as the Scottish Miners Federation. It joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, and in 1914 changed its name to National Union of Scottish Mineworkers. It survives as the National Union of Mineworkers (Scotland Area). During the 1920s and 1930s the union was strongly affected by socialist and communist leadership as its members fought for better wages and living conditions. During World War II, they strongly supported government with increased production from the mines. In 1944 with the establishment of the National Union of Mineworkers, the NUSM became its "Scottish Area," with less autonomy. In the late 20th century, the mining industry declined dramatically in Scotland and across Great Britain, putting thousands of men out of work. Forerunners There had been several attempts to form a national union of miners in Scotland. The Scottish Coal and Iron Miners' Association, for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nottinghamshire Miners' Association
The Nottinghamshire Miners' Association was a trade union representing coal miners in Nottinghamshire, England. A Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Miners' Association was founded in the 1860s, but became moribund by the 1870s, although some branches remained active, including trade unionists such as Samuel Smith, Aaron Stewart and William Hardy. In 1881, they constituted a new Nottingham Miners' Federation based on the rules of the old union, and by 1884 membership had risen to more than 2,000. That year, two unsuccessful strikes took place and membership halved. In response, the union elected new officials and adopted a new name, the "Nottinghamshire Miners' Association", and constitution. In 1889, the Association was a founder member of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. In 1926, at the height of the General Strike, General Secretary George Alfred Spencer, on behalf of the Nottinghamshire Miners Association, negotiated a deal with the local mine owners which brought h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northumberland Miners' Association
The Northumberland Miners' Association was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1864 to represent coal miners in Northumberland, following the collapse of a short-lived union covering both Northumberland and Durham miners. Originally named the Northumberland Miners' Mutual Confident Association, it aimed for respectability, requiring high subscriptions and avoiding strikes. It did not affiliate to the national body, the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, until 1907. In 1945, this became the National Union of Mineworkers (UK), National Union of Mineworkers, and the association became its Northumberland Area. This was dissolved in 2018. General Secretaries :1864: William Crawford (Durham politician), William Crawford :1865: Thomas Burt :1913: William Straker :1935: Jim Bowman (trade unionist), Jim Bowman :1950: Robert Main :1975: Sammy Scott :1985: :1992: Ian Lavery :2010: Denis Murphy (British politician), Denis Murphy Presidents :John Nixon :1872 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somerset Miners' Association
The Somerset Miners' Association or Somersetshire Miners' Association was a coal mining trade union based in the Somerset coalfield, Somerset, England. The union was founded in 1872 as a section of the Amalgamated Association of Miners. However, the AAM collapsed in 1875, and the union survived only on a much reduced basis, led by B. Fish and with a presence only in Radstock.University of the West of England,Bristol Historical Resource: Trade unions In 1888, Samuel Henry Whitehouse, secretary of the Midland Miners' Federation, accepted an invitation to become the full-time secretary and agent for the union. A local coal mine owner almost immediately took Whitehouse to court for supporting a strike, nearly bankrupting him personally, but he remained in post until 1917, greatly expanding the reach and membership of the association.Margaret 'Espinasse, ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.IV, pp.196-197 Always one of the smaller coal mining unions in England, membership being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yorkshire Miners' Association
The Yorkshire Miners' Association was a British trade union. It is now an integral part of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). History The union was founded in 1881 with the merger of the South Yorkshire Miners' Association, and the West Yorkshire Miners' Association, agreed only because both organisations were weakened by unsuccessful disputes. In order to save money, it moved away from its predecessors' focus on paying benefits to members who were unable to work, and instead aimed to improve working conditions. This proved immediately successful, as the union obtained a 10% rise in wages in 1882, and membership grew to over 20,000. In 1994, the union's members were transferred to the national body, the NUM.Trade Union Certification Officer,Mergers decision: National Union of Mineworkers (Yorkshire Area) proposed transfer of engagements to National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), 19 May 1994 Officials General secretaries :1881: Benjamin Pickard :1904: William Parrot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
