The South Side Labour Protection League was a

trade union 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 ...

organising dock porters and

stevedore A dockworker (also called a longshoreman, stevedore, docker, wharfman, lumper or wharfie) is a waterfront manual laborer who loads and unloads ships. As a result of the intermodal shipping container revolution, the required number of dockwork ...

s 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Until the mid-1880s, dock porters in the docks on the south side of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

in London were represented by the Labour Protection League. However, the union had increasingly come to focus its attention on

s, and when its executive changed the union's name to the "Amalgamated Stevedores' Labour Protection League", this led the remaining dock porters to leave. Inspired by the London Dock Strike of 1889, the former members of the Labour Protection League formed a new union, the South Side Labour Protection League, led by

Harry Quelch Henry Quelch (30 January, 1858 – 17 September, 1913) was one of the first Marxists and founders of the Social democracy, social democratic movement in Great Britain. He was a socialist activist, journalist and trade unionist. His brother, Lor ...

. It was highly decentralised, allowing it to recruit general labourers and workers in a variety of dockside trades, while each trade was able to maintain its own conditions of entry and traditions. By 1912, the union's twenty branches included: * Corn Porters * Crane Drivers, Steam and Hydraulic Boiler Attendants * South Side * Thames Steamship Workers In later years, the union began admitting members working on the north bank of the Thames, particularly in Poplar, and it therefore shortened its name to the Labour Protection League. By 1920, it had 5,500 members, and it agreed to take part in the merger which formed the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general union, general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900 ...

in 1922.Modern Records Centre
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General Secretaries

:1889:

:1890s: Arthur Harris :1920: Peter Hubbart

General Secretaries

Footnotes

See also