H&P's Trade Union and Employment Forum meets several times a year, bringing together trade unionists with professional historians and other interested groups. It considers trade union issues against their historical background, exploring different perspectives on the past and the present in order to suggest new lines of policy for the future.
Its regular meetings have covered such themes as: political funding and relations with the main political parties; attitudes towards the European Union; democracy in the workplace; and apprenticeship and training. It has also organised higher-profile events to mark the anniversaries of pivotal moments, such as the 1986 Wapping dispute in the printing industry, and the 1984 miners’ strike. When the opportunity presents itself, the Forum works in partnership with other organizations, including a session at the Unions 21 annual conference and a fringe event at the Trades Union Congress.
We are always keen to hear from potential participants, co-organizers and sponsors. If you or your organization would like to be involved, please contact one of the Management Committee.
H&P's Trade Union Forum chair John Edmonds spoke to Claire Bowes for BBC Witness about early Euroscepticism on the left and the impact of EC President Jacques Delors' speech to the Trade Union Congress in September 1988.
Dave Ward, General Secretary of the Communication Worker’s Union, Dr. Alastair Reid, Life Fellow, Girton College, Cambridge & author of United We Stand: A History of Britain's Trade Unions and Siobhan Endean, National Officer for Equalities at Unite the Union discussed the future of Trade Unions on 3 September at UNITE headquarters.
Ahead of the UK’s referendum on continued membership of the European Union, the Trade Union Forum held an event to explore the roles that Trade Unions have had in shaping the public debate on EU policies, reflect upon the roles the Unions played in the 1975 referendum, and offer suggestions for Trade Union engagement in the ongoing debate.
On Saturday 24 October 2015 around 70 Industrial Relations academics, Historians, Trade Unionists and Managers gathered for a day conference at Nuffield College, Oxford to reflect on 50 years of Industrial Relations academic research and public policy.
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H&P is based at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, University of London.
We are the only project in the UK providing access to an international network of more than 500 historians with a broad range of expertise. H&P offers a range of resources for historians, policy makers and journalists.