Trade Union and Employment Forum
This new forum aims to bring together academics, business groups, policy makers and the public interested in how understandings of historical trade relations can inform current policy debates. In so doing, it builds on History & Policy’s existing collaboration with the AHRC Imagining Markets network. Forthcoming events include policy workshops and public seminars focused on the connections between Britain’s historical trade relations and contemporary trade challenges such as the EU referendum. In collaboration with the Centre for Imperial and Global History at the University of Exeter, the forum will also publish opinion articles and policy papers on how economic history can inform international trade discussions of topical interest.
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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 unions and cooperative ownership: the Wales Coop Development and Training Centre
Dr Denis Gregory, Director of the Trade Union Research Unit at Ruskin College, Oxford discussed the establishment of the Wales Coop Development and Training Centre, in which trade union involvement was central.
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The Liberal Party and the trade unions
Dr Alastair Reid, of Girton College, Cambridge, revisited the years when the Liberals and the unions worked closely together. Baroness Susan Kramer, formerly Liberal MP for Richmond Park and Shadow Transport Secretary, offered reflections on relations between the Liberal Democrats and trade unions today.
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The Labour Party and the trade unions
Professor Andrew Thorpe, of Exeter University, and Billy Hayes, General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union, examined key aspects of the Labour Party's relationship with the trade unions.
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New Trade Union Education Project
H&P consultant historian Rupert Griffin outlined the progress of his research for H&P's Trade Union Education Project, as well as a proposed model for involving historians in union research projects and membership development.
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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.
