James Conway (7 October 1915 – 3 March 1974) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

trade unionist A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. Conway grew up in the

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

area, and left school at the age of fourteen to work at the

Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...

factory at

Trafford Park Trafford Park is an area of the metropolitan borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, opposite Salford Quays on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, southwest of Manchester city centre and north of Stretford. Until the la ...

. There, he joined the

Amalgamated Engineering Union The Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) was a major United Kingdom, British trade union. It merged with the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union to form the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in 1992. History ...

(AEU) and became a

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...

. He also joined the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

(CPGB), but soon left to join the Labour Party, and subsequently became associated with the right-wing of the labour movement. In 1949, he was elected to the AEU's Manchester Area Committee, and in 1952 as a Labour Party member of

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been re ...

, serving for eight years."Jim Conway", ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 5 March 1974, p.6 In 1959, Conway became national organiser of the AEU, then assistant general secretary in 1962, and in 1964 was elected as the union's general secretary.CONWAY James
, ''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It has been published annually in the form of a hardback book since 1849, and has been published online since 1999. It has also been published on CD-ROM. It lists, and gives information on, people from around ...

'' Under his leadership, the union merged with the

Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers __NOTOC__ The Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers (AUFW) was a trade union representing workers in foundries in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1946 with the merger of the National Union of Foundry Workers, the Ironfounding Wor ...

, becoming the Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers, then with the

Draughtsmen and Allied Technicians' Association The Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS) was a British trade union. History The union was founded in 1913 by 200 draughtsmen, as the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen (AESD). It expanded rapidly, and ...

and the

Constructional Engineering Union The Constructional Engineering Union (CEU) was a trade union representing steel erectors and other workers involved in steel construction in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded in 1924 as a section of the Iron and Steel Trades Co ...

, being renamed the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers. In 1974, Conway was returning from Paris on

Turkish Airlines Flight 981 Turkish Airlines Flight 981 (TK981/THY981) was a scheduled flight from Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport to London Heathrow Airport, with an intermediate stop at Orly Airport in Paris. On 3 March 1974, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operating the fl ...

, when it crashed, resulting in the deaths of all on board. Following Jim Conway's death, an educational and research trust, The Jim Conway Foundation (JCF), was established as a tribute to his work in the trade union movement. Andy Wood, Conway's Personal Assistant from 1966, founded the organisation. The JCF began by organising weekend seminars for rank and file trade unionists. Following a grant from the Manpower Services Commission's Job Creation Programme, the JCF was able to engage its first full-time staff; it established a research department and began to carry out independent research on employment related issues. In the late 1970s, the JCF formed links with the Friedrich Ebert Stifftung, a large German organisation associated with the German Social Democratic Party, with which it worked closely on trade union and work related social issues for the rest of the twentieth century. In the 1990s, the JCF became involved with training programmes in Eastern Europe. The European Commission's Poland and Hungary Aid funded this involvement for the Regeneration of the Economies (PHARE) and Technical Assistance to CIS Countries (TACIS). The Foreign & Commonwealth Office also helped fund the European programme through its Know How Fund. Andy Wood retired in 1998 and the JCF ceased to exist two years later. On 9 September 2024 Andy Wood launched the Jim Conway Foundation website as a memorial to Jim Conway and the work of the JCF. The site details the beginning of the organisation and includes more details on its involvement in education, training and research.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Jim 1915 births 1974 deaths General secretaries of the Amalgamated Engineering Union Trade unionists from Manchester Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1974 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in France