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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Going to the Press: Wapping 1986
The Wapping dispute was and is intensely controversial. The Trade Union Forum brought together Tony Burke (Unite), Baroness Dean (SOGAT), Tricia Dawson (University of Westminster) and Greg Neale (former refusenik journalist) to discuss the printers' strike.
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The Conservative Party and the trade unions
Dr Pete Dorey described a major shift in Conservative approaches to the unions from conciliation 1945-64 to confrontation 1975-90, while Richard Balfe suggested that under David Cameron the Conservatives were moving back towards conciliation, which could have advantages for both sides.
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How the TUC learned to love the European Union and how the affair turned out
Lord David Lea (formerly TUC Deputy General Secretary) threw stimulating light on the background to the sudden switch of the TUC to a pro-European position in 1988, while John Edmonds (formerly GMB General Secretary) provided an evaluation of the longer-term advantages and disadvantages for trade unionism in Britain.
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Democracy in the workplace – the Bullock Report revisited
Lord David Lea (formerly TUC Deputy General Secretary) recalled his role in the run-up to the Bullock Report of 1977 which had raised many issues about democracy still relevant today, while Professor Peter Ackers raised questions about other options even within the mainstream of academic industrial relations at the time.
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Launch of The Tide of Democracy, shipyard workers and social relations in Britain, 1870-1950
Dr Alastair Reid introduced his new book on the history of British shipbuilding, The Tide of Democracy, by emphasizing the economic benefits of clustering many medium-sized firms in the same district, which had profound implications for the skills and unionization of the workforce.
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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.
