History & policy database

Trade Union and Employment Forum

This Forum brings together academics, trade unionists, employers and the media to examine the historic context of trade union and labour policies and identify lessons that can be learnt for today and the future.  The Forum also marks key events that have shaped the workplace and business world such as the 1984 Miners’ Strike, the Health and Safety Act, the introduction of employment tribunals and the anniversary of the 1926 General Strike.

Regular seminars and conferences bring together interested parties and provide the opportunity to hear from key players and experts in a wide range of topical employment issues. From time to time the forum also produces opinion pieces to be found on this website.

The Forum is part of the History and Policy Group based in the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London, connecting historians, policy makers and the media.

  • Unions and the Great War

    H&P's Trade Union Forum explored the unions during the First World War at its 15 November 2014 meeting. Professor Jerry White, of Birkbeck, University of London, spoke about London's trade unions, and Dr Deborah Thom, of Robinson College, Cambridge, talked about women, socialism, unionism and protest.

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  • The Miners’ Strike, 30 Years On conference

    A report by Roger Jeary of this public conference is now available. Bringing together union leaders, strike participants, historians, legal scholars and journalists, the event offered fascinating and at times charged insights into an industrial dispute that changed the landscape of trade unionism in Britain.

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  • The unions and political parties reconsidered

    At a special session on this theme Dr Jim Moher, former National Legal Secretary of the Communication Workers Union, drew together the threads of the previous four sessions and led off further discussion to open up new perspectives on policy, at what turned out to be a very opportune time as regards wider public discussions…

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  • The Communist Party and the trade unions

    Professor Kevin Morgan of the University of Manchester gave a historical account of contrasting phases in the CP's activities, and a number of regular participants in Forum meetings then made short contributions on their own experiences.

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  • The state of union archives: past, present and future

    Helen Ford, the senior archivist at the Modern Records Centre, Warwick University, and Christine Coates, the librarian of the Trades Union Congress Library collection at London Metropolitan University gave detailed and balanced accounts of the current state of play in their organisations.

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Trade Union and Employment Forum Links

About Us

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.

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