4 - Unionism and cooperation

Question 1

One example of Earlier Trade Unions success

Answer 1

London Printers
- 1793 petitioned their masters for an incraese in wages
- They had 539 signatures
- Successfully negotiatedd an increase in wages

Question 2

Grand National success

Answer 2

• The Combination Act were replealed in 1824
• Had over 1 million members

Question 3

Grand National failures

Answer 3

• failed in 1834
• due to a lack of effective management and bad leadership
• as only 16,000 out of the 1 million members paidd their fees

Question 4

Government’s response to Trade Unions

Answer 4

The Combinations Act
- Harsher punishments were favoured under the 1797 Unlawful Oaths Act
- Repealed in 1834

The Master and Servants Act
- not ammended until the Trade Union Act 1871
- In 1864, under the M&S A 10,246 working men were imprisoned

Question 5

Tolpuddle Martyrs facts

Answer 5

Government making a statement with harsh punishmnets
- Willaim lovett’s campaign CHARTISTS) reduced their sentence
- They were issued with a free pardon in March 1836.
- sentenced under 1797 Unlawful Oaths Act
- petition had 200,000 signatures to campaign for their release

Question 6

New Model Unionism factss

Answer 6

• The Amalgamated Society of Engineers donated £3,000 to the builders strike fund
  –> as they were so well organised that they collected so much money they were able to help other unions.
• the National Miners’ Association (middle-class Alexander Mcdonald) = they achieved the Miners Regulation Act of 1860 and it ensured the protection of their fair wages.
  –> Macdonald was elected to the first parliamentary committee of the Trades Union Congress in 1871

Question 7

TUC facts

Answer 7

• Formed in 1868
• Forerunner was the London trades Council

Question 8

New lanark Facts

Answer 8

• One investor at his mill was Jeremy Bentham and the Quaker William Allen, who received a £5,000 return on their capital.
  –> Jeremy Bentham critisised the amendments of the Poor Laws in his esay ‘Observations on the Poor Bill’ when Willaim Pitt (the Younger) introduced them in 1796
• However, when no one listened to his ideas, he left for America.
  –> despite the Tsar of Russia visiting in 1816 = people listening?
• The Mill operated from 1799-1828
• free education and built houses for the workers
• no children under 10 could work
• The Mill was closed for 4 months following the US’s ban on cotton, but Owen continued to pay his workers
• In 1834, he boasted that he maintained an annual wage of £300,000, which silenced his critics.

Question 9

Co-operative and the Rochdale Pioneers facts

Answer 9

• In 1844, the first co-op shop was opened in Rochdale by 28 men
• Who formed the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers
• By 1870, theier first shop has 5,560 members
• By the 1870s there were over 1000s shops
• However, they faced opposition becuase they were viewedd as radical: tradtional shop owners chargedd them excessive rent

Question 10

Friendly Societies

Answer 10

• The Government did not stop FS but controlled them as they did a job for the governmnet
  = Proto-welfare state
• The FS Act in 1793, meant that FS’s had to register with a local Justice of Peace
• By 1815, FS insured 1/3 of the population
• The United Society was an assiciation of numerous FS = cooordinated