_WOMEN AND TRADE UNIONS._
No existing combination outside Manual Labour--Beginning
of Unionism among women--Emma Paterson--Sketch of her
life--She advocates combination--Conference--Women’s
Protective and Provident League, formed 1874--First
Women’s Union, Bookbinders, 1874--Approval of Trades
Congress, 1874--Women Delegates to Congress, 1875--Other
Unions formed up to 1879--Army Clothing Factory--Liverpool
Tailoresses--Nailmakers--_Women’s Union Journal_--Death of
Mrs. Paterson, 1886--The Match Girls’ Strike, 1889--Public
Sympathy--New Organisations--Unionism in the Provinces--Mixed
Unions--Tours undertaken by League Officials--Method
of Proceeding--Difficulties of Unionism--Fines and
deductions--Attitude of Men’s Unions--Increased
Support--Established results and Future Prospects--Factory
and Home-work--Working for Pocket-money--Foreign
Competition--“Consumers’ League”--Self Help--_Directory of
Women’s Unions._
The history of combination among women lies within a narrow compass.
Its action has been confined entirely to the working classes, and
even among them the period of its existence is as yet but short. No
organization fulfilling the purposes of a Trade Union is to be found
among women of the cultured classes, and the corporations by which
professional and commercial men secure the maintenance of a definite
system of employment and a fixed standard of payment have no parallel
among workers of the other sex. So far as women join the ranks of
a profession already thus guarded--as, for instance, the medical
profession--they share its privileges, and we are thus spared the
spectacle of women doctors underselling their male colleagues, and
earning their maledictions thereby. There are various associations of
women engaged in teaching, but these as a rule are formed purely for
educational purposes, and are powerless to defend or protect their
members in any way. Indirectly, however, they may serve some of the
purposes of a Trade Union. Thus the Association of Assistant Mistresses
in secondary schools, though carefully disclaiming all title to be
called a Trade Union, is able, by means of friendly conferences with
headmistresses as well as by the information it disseminates among
its members, and the publicity which it is able to give to matters in
which their interests are concerned, to confer upon its members some
of the minor benefits of combination. The National Union of Teachers
in elementary schools (men and women) comes much nearer to the Trade
Union type; but though affording its members valuable aid, and able
through its Parliamentary Committee seriously to influence legislation,
it is not constituted upon a Trade Union basis, and does not profess to
fulfil its functions. The associations recently formed among men and
women employed in shops are, however, Trade Unions, both in intention
and in fact; but with this solitary, though important, exception, the
progress of unionism among women has been entirely confined to the
classes engaged in strictly manual labour.
=Emma Paterson.=--There is no difficulty in fixing the date of the
first beginnings of Trades Unionism among women, or in assigning the
credit of its foundation to the right quarter. The date was 1874, and
the founder was Emma Paterson, _née_ Smith. I am here speaking of
purely women’s unions, for it must not be forgotten that large unions
of men and women had existed for many years in the textile trades of
the North of England. Emma Smith was the daughter of a schoolmaster,
and was carefully educated by her father. She gained early practice in
organisation in connection with the Working Men’s Club and Institute
Union, and gave such evidence of talent in this direction that when
only nineteen she was appointed assistant secretary. After five
years’ service Emma Smith became Secretary of the Women’s Suffrage
Association, and her early practical experience, combined with the
theoretical discussions upon the position of women to which she was now
introduced, led her to think seriously about their industrial position
also. In 1873 Miss Smith became Mrs. Paterson, and with her husband,
a former hon. secretary of the Institute previously mentioned, and
hardly less interested than herself in labour questions, she started
for a tour in America, undertaken partly with a view to studying
the operations of Friendly Societies in that country. She had been
deeply struck with some remarks that had fallen from an American lady
lecturer upon this subject, and the idea of a similar organisation at
home for women took root and germinated in her thoughtful mind. In
America she learnt with interest that experiments in women’s unions
had already been made, and showed some prospect of success. On her
return to England Mrs. Paterson wrote a paper, which was published
in the _Labour News_, advocating the formation of a national union
for improving the position of working women. The article contained a
careful _resumé_ of the question, and showed that the writer possessed
a thorough insight into her subject. It was pointed out that women
are almost always worse paid than men, even when equally skilled;
that their isolation as workers exposes them to reductions of wages
from unscrupulous employers, which their more honourable rivals are
compelled to imitate. In support of the “benefit” side of Unionism Mrs.
Paterson cites a curious case. “At a time of great slackness of trade
among the bookbinders, in 1871, caused by a delay in passing through
the House of Commons the revised Prayer Book, it was stated that during
sixteen months two of the men’s unions had paid £2,500 in relieving
their unemployed members, but that the women in the trade, having no
union to fall back upon, had suffered the greatest distress.” Mrs.
Paterson then deals with the popular scepticism as to women’s powers
of combination. “At three successive annual congresses of leaders and
delegates of Trades Unions the need of women’s unions has been brought
before them, and each time someone present has asserted that women
_cannot_ form unions. The only ground for this assertion,” adds Mrs.
Paterson courageously, “appears to be that women _have not_ yet formed
unions. Probably they have not done so because they have not quite seen
how to set about it.”
=Women’s Protective and Provident League.=--The first result of Mrs.
Paterson’s paper was that a conference was convened to consider her
proposal. Many friends outside the ranks of labour attended the meeting
held in the Quebec Institute on July 8th, 1874, at which Mr. Hodgson
Pratt presided. Resolutions were passed to the effect--
1. That a Committee be appointed, to be entitled the Women’s Protective
and Provident Committee.
2. That one of the objects of the Association shall be to enable women
earning their own livelihood to combine to protect their interests.
3. That it shall be one of the objects of the Association to provide a
benefit fund for assistance in sickness and other contingencies.
A committee was elected, and Mrs. Paterson was appointed honorary
secretary, a post which she held until her death in 1886.
The resolutions here quoted indicate sufficiently clearly the objects
of the Association. It was considered necessary, however, not to
proclaim these too loudly to a world unprepared for their reception,
and accordingly the use of the term “Trade Union” was carefully
avoided. Public opinion had not then been enlisted in favour of the
principle of combination for either men or women; employers were not
likely to regard amicably a further extension of the methods against
which they had already fought so obstinately, and working men as a
class had not yet grasped the importance, in the interests of labour
generally, of the complete adoption of unionism by workers of both
sexes. Their attitude was to some extent one of suspicion towards
women, on account of their readiness to undersell the labour of men. It
behoved the friends of the movement to walk guardedly, and to disarm
suspicion until their cause had gained strength. The cumbrous title
“Women’s Protective and Provident League” first adopted, directed
attention accordingly to one side only of the work--that of insurance
against sickness--while veiling its trade union aspect under the vague
adjective “protective.” More stress was laid than would perhaps now be
the case upon the advantage to be derived from the sick benefit funds
of the unions. The courage and hopes of the women were hardly raised to
the point of making sacrifices for an organization of whose powers as
a bulwark against oppression they were ignorant, but the prospect of
receiving payment when out of work was something that the most timid
could appreciate.
=Bristol Association.=--A Working Women’s Association was founded in
Bristol in 1874 upon similar lines to those of the League, and under
the influence of the same inspiration, Mrs. Paterson having circulated
her paper and attended a conference in that city. The society is still
in existence.
=Bookbinders’ Union.=--The progress made during the first year of the
League’s life was slow; but, as all who have watched the growth of
social organisms are well aware, a period of struggle and slow progress
is the unavoidable preliminary of growth in any movement which is
firmly grounded. The Union of Women employed in Bookbinding was formed
in 1874, and was followed next year by that of the Upholsteresses and
the Shirt and Collar Makers, societies which are all still alive,
though not large in numbers. The bookbinding trade was selected for the
first experiment, partly because a recent period of trade depression
had made the want of a provident society severely felt, but still more
because Mr. King, the secretary of the London Consolidated Society of
Bookbinders, undertook to give the women all the help in his power in
the work of forming a trades union. “There is no provision,” remarks
the Report of the League’s work for 1874, “for the admission of women
as members of the men’s societies either in bookbinding or other
trades, with some few exceptions in the North of England. Nor would
the women be able to avail themselves of such provision, as they could
not pay the same subscription, their wages seldom being more than half
those of the men.” Here we have the whole case in a nutshell--women
completely unorganized, and disabled by their poverty from making use
of the levers by which men had raised their position. It is gratifying
to be able to add that several of the men’s unions have recently
admitted women at a lower rate of contribution. About the same time
unions of women were formed in Dewsbury and also in Leicester, where,
it was stated, the stitchers and seamers in the hosiery trade received
only 5_s._ a week. A meeting was called by some gentlemen of the town
who recognised the mischief of allowing wages to diminish unchecked,
and a union was formed, which was able almost immediately to obtain for
its members a small advance of wages.
=Trades Congress, Liverpool.=--In January, 1874, the Trades Congress
met in Liverpool, and Mrs. Paterson addressed a letter to the members
upon the subject of combination among women. The letter was read by
the President (Mr. Julian), and the Congress expressed hearty approval
of the movement. Meanwhile the Committee of the League busied itself
in stimulating the young societies by means of social gatherings and
entertainments, and by holding meetings and endeavouring to arouse
public interest. A room was rented in Holborn, and was used for small
meetings and as a house of call for women out of work.
=Provincial Unions. Women Delegates to Congress.=--In 1875 and the
following year efforts were made by the League to organise working
women in the provinces. Meetings were held in Glasgow, Manchester, and
Sheffield, and unions were formed in various trades; but though the
co-operation of the local Trades Council was enlisted, not many of the
societies then formed have survived. An event of more import was the
admission of women to the Trades Congress at Glasgow in 1875, where
Miss Simcox represented the Shirt and Collar Makers, and Mrs. Paterson
the Bookbinders and the Upholstresses. A resolution pledging the
members of the Congress to promote trades unions among women was moved
by Mr. Shipton, of the London Trades Council, and carried unanimously.
Since 1875 women have been present at each annual meeting of the Trades
Congress, and have invariably been received with courtesy and goodwill.
During the next few years unions of women were formed in London as
follows:--
Tailoresses’ Union 1877
Dressmakers’, Milliners’, and Mantle Makers’ Union 1878
Westminster and Pimlico Branch of the Tailoresses’ Union 1879
East London Tailoresses’ Union 1879
The societies thus formed were for the most part small, the total
membership only reaching about 1,300 in 1879; but they held well
together, and their financial position was sound. In 1879 the Society
of Women employed in Bookbinding was able to report that after paying
during the year benefits amounting to £37 10_s._ 6_d._, a balance of
£218 12_s._ remained in hand. The Upholsteresses’ Society had paid £23
15_s._ in benefits, and had a balance of £98 18_s._ 6_d._ In all cases
the societies had paid their own working expenses, the funds of the
League being only employed in giving them a fair start.
=Army Clothing Factory.=--In 1879 the good offices of the League
were employed in bringing the grievances of the women working in the
Royal Army Clothing Factory at Pimlico under notice of the House of
Commons, and in obtaining the appointment of a Committee of Inquiry.
This is probably the first case in which the conditions of women’s
labour have been investigated at the request of the workers themselves.
Similar grievances cropped up in 1882, and once more in 1885-6. The
League, as before, took up the women’s case, holding conferences and
attracting public attention to the matter. The result was a searching
inquiry into the management of the factory, undertaken by Mrs. Fawcett,
at the request of Mr. Woodall, Surveyor-General of Ordnance. Mrs.
Fawcett received the thanks of the Department for her labours, and the
grievances of the women were in great part redressed.
Two trade societies were formed in Leicester in 1878-9--the Cigar
Makers’ and the Worsted Spinners’. Members of the Trades Council again
gave their aid, and the unions thus formed still carry on, under
changed names, a flourishing existence. In the autumn of 1878 five
women attended the Trades Congress held in Bristol, at which a proposal
for the appointment of working men and women as sub-inspectors of
factories was carried unanimously. The question was brought up again at
the Congress of 1881, and at the instance of the League Parliament was
approached on the subject.[15]
[15] It was not until 1893 that two ladies--Miss Abraham and
Miss Muirhead Paterson--were appointed factory inspectors. No
working women have yet been appointed.
=Results in 1882.=--For some years the work of forming Women’s Unions
went on but slowly, and in London, though persistent efforts were made,
no new societies were permanently established between 1879 and 1888.
By 1882 it was found that the seven London unions had received £1210
in members’ subscriptions, and had paid away £475 in sick benefits
and grants at death. The total number of unions formed by the League
was stated in 1883 to be nineteen, ten in London, and nine in the
provinces. Meetings were held in many towns, and a few unions were
formed, among which may be mentioned a Working Women’s Society in
Oxford, founded in 1881. In Liverpool the Tailoresses’ Union would have
collapsed but for the help of the League, and the case affords a good
example of the dangers with which the work of combination is beset. The
union was not constituted in a business-like manner, and the member
of the men’s union (afterwards expelled), who was allowed to act as
secretary and treasurer, “neglected,” as the report euphemistically
puts it, to place the funds in a bank. Suspicion at once took
possession of the society, and subscriptions ceased. The League
promptly came to the rescue, deposited a sum equal to the subscriptions
in a local bank on behalf of the society, and took means, which were
eventually successful, for obtaining repayment from the secretary.
=Nailmakers.=--Attention was drawn in 1883 to the wretched wages earned
by women in the nailmaking trade, by Mr. Broadhurst’s bill (promoted
by the Parliamentary committee of the Trades Congress), prohibiting
the employment in that trade of girls under 14. The bill was thrown
out, but the fact of its having been brought in roused the women to
a sense of their position, and an effort was made to form a union
under the auspices of the League. Wages were then quoted at 3_s._ to
5_s._ a week. A large number of women nailmakers are now enrolled in
the Midland Trades Federation, which contains altogether 1500 women.
Unionism in the nail and chain trades has fluctuated greatly, for
the difficulties in the way of combination are very great. Both Mr.
Burnett’s Report to the Board of Trade and Miss Orme’s to the Labour
Commission, show a wretched condition of life and labour in these
districts.
It will be seen that the record of combination among women, where the
support of men’s unions has not been available, is to some extent a
history of abortive attempts. The experience thus gained, however,
has not been wholly thrown away. It has shown where the attempt is
likely to succeed, and where it is not. As a result, effort is now
being concentrated on the most favourable fields, and recent events
have shown the wisdom of this course. In spite of many failures, the
examples of successful combination are sufficiently numerous to prove
that the task of organising women’s labour, if difficult, is by no
means hopeless.
=Women’s Union Journal.=--Among other agencies promoted or encouraged
by the League during its early years were a monthly paper called the
_Women’s Union Journal_ (now issued quarterly as the _Women’s Trades
Union Review_), a reading-room, where women out of work could consult
advertisements, and employers send notices of vacancies, a swimming
club (which owed its formation to the horror caused by the sinking of
the _Princess Alice_ in the Thames), a small co-operative society, and
contributions towards a seaside house for members of the Unions.
=Death of Mrs. Paterson.=--At the end of the year 1886 the unions
suffered an irreparable loss in the death of Mrs. Paterson. Her
husband, who had been one of the earliest members of the League,
and took the warmest interest in its progress, had died a few years
before. Almost since her girlhood, as we have seen, Mrs. Paterson had
striven hard for the advancement of working women, and her death, at
the early age of thirty-eight, was attributed by her friends to her
unwearying labours. She had been honorary secretary of the League from
its foundation, and since 1875 had attended every meeting of the Trades
Congress but one, besides giving unremitting attention to the affairs
of the individual unions. Mrs. Paterson exercised a great influence
over the working women with whom she came in contact, and she possessed
two qualities which are not always found together--enthusiasm for an
ideal and great business powers. To her quiet yet persistent efforts it
is due that the movement did not collapse amid the many difficulties of
its early years, and that the idea of Trades Unionism among women has
been steadily kept alive. For a short time after Mrs. Paterson’s death,
Miss Clementina Black held the post of secretary to the League, but
resigned in 1889, and became connected with a new organization, similar
in aim, called the “Women’s Trades Union Association.” Her place was
taken by Miss Emilie Holyoake, daughter of the well-known co-operator,
Miss Florence Routledge, B.A., becoming honorary secretary.
=Match-Girls’ Strike.=--The years 1888 and 1889 marked a great
upheaval in the labour market. The first saw the match-girls’ strike,
the second the dockers’ strike. The great silent mass of struggling,
starving, unskilled labour then for the first time found voice, and its
utterance, expressed in the unmistakable terms of a deadly struggle,
and following hard upon the revelations made before the Commission on
the Sweating System, brought home to the outside world the real state
of things prevailing in the lower ranks of labour. Thus the public mind
was prepared to show something more than passive sympathy with the
rebellion which broke out soon afterwards among unskilled labourers.
The strike of the girls in Messrs. Bryant and May’s factory, though
dwarfed in interest by the dockers’ strike which followed, was still a
remarkable episode, unique indeed in the history of combination among
women. The beginning of the strike found the girls entirely without
organization, its close left them with increased wages, a union nearly
a thousand strong, and for some time afterwards considerably in excess
of that figure. The strikers were ably and courageously led by Mrs.
Annie Besant and Mr. Herbert Burrows, and their success was also due
in no small degree to the support of the London Trades Council, which
took the part of the girls, and sent a deputation to press their
claims upon the firm. By thus gaining over public sympathy and winning
the open countenance of the official element in Trades Unionism the
match-girls’ strike may be said to have marked a new departure, for,
though similar help had often been rendered by Trades Councils before,
the publicity attached to this occasion made it specially noteworthy.
Public opinion, too, though a fickle friend, is still a friend worth
having, and whilst its frown is a penalty which employers do not
willingly incur, its restraining effect upon hasty action on the other
side is also not without benefit. A certain vague sentiment with regard
to the physical weakness of women and their patience under poverty and
suffering helps to keep public opinion favourable on the whole, while
their disorganized condition prevents them, as a rule, from adopting
the aggressive measures which shock and terrify society. So for the
present the outside world looks kindly upon women’s unions, the more so
as these organisations make no demands upon its purse.
=New Unions. Women’s Trades Union Association.=--Between 1888 and 1890
a number of new unions, including the Amalgamated Laundresses with
several branches, Matchbox-makers of Shoreditch and Bow, Box-makers
and Confectioners, were formed in London. Of these some were formed
under the auspices of the new association mentioned above, the Women’s
Trades Union Association. This society aims at promoting unions whose
funds shall be devoted solely to trade purposes, contributions for sick
and out-of-work benefits being either optional or non-existent. In
the opinion of those who formed the new society the starvation wages
paid to women in many trades render it difficult, if not impossible,
to secure subscriptions upon a scale high enough to allow for sick
benefits, and they consider it best therefore to devote attention
entirely to strengthening the workers’ position in their respective
trades. There is something to be said for this view of the question,
and it is possible that, following the lines of the “new unionism,”
women’s societies may come into existence which would hardly have been
formed upon any other method. Some belonging to the older organisation,
as, for instance, the Matchbox-makers’ Union, have already adopted a
purely trade basis for combination. The majority however give sick
and out-of-work benefits, and in many districts the “club” aspect of
a union is that which appeals most strongly to women unexperienced
in combination. The question is one with which men’s unions are much
occupied at present, and its final solution cannot be foretold as yet.
=Mixed Unions in the Provinces.=--Meanwhile unionism has been spreading
in the provinces, which offer a better field for combination than the
ill-paid trades of East London, to which the efforts of the League had
hitherto been directed. Some of the larger unions of men in the textile
trades, as already mentioned, had long admitted women as members,
such as the Northern Counties Weavers’ Association with 43,000 women
members, and the Card and Blowing-room Operatives with 21,000 women.
The Amalgamated Hosiery Union of Leicester has 2500, and the Scottish
Mill and Factory workers the same number. The Notts and Leicester
Cigar-makers’ union is an admirable example of a purely women’s society
which early learned to stand on its feet, and was able to gain signal
advantages for its members. It has a membership of 800, and is said
to contain a larger percentage of those engaged in the trade than
any other society. There are unions of women, either of a general or
special kind, in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Wakefield, Denton (where
a union in the hat trade contains 4290 members), Glasgow, Belfast, and
other towns. Particulars of their membership are given in an appendix.
It will be seen that by far the largest number of women unionists are
enrolled in the mixed societies of the textile trades. These constitute
the models to which in time unionism will probably more generally
conform in the future, since an organisation which includes both men
and women is free from the sources of weakness attaching to unions of
either sex singly. When the women of a trade are not included in the
union, they are liable to undersell the men, and unions of women alone
are necessarily weaker than the better equipped organisations of men.
For the present, however, it is necessary to be content with imperfect
forms of combination, and if women are ever to win a place in the older
and stronger societies of men they must first give evidence of their
quality by forming and managing their own unions. Every year those who
make the effort are gaining increased support from the men’s unions,
and in time there can be no doubt that the cause of labour will be seen
to have no distinction of sex.
=System of Tours.=--The growth of provincial unions has been much
quickened by the policy recently adopted by the League,--now called
the Women’s Trades Union League. A scheme of annual tours has been
mapped out, by which the officials of the League are enabled to visit
periodically districts in which unions are forming, or are likely to
be formed. Sometimes the men’s unions send to ask for the help of
the League to organise the women, whose readiness to accept lower
wages they recognise as a serious danger to the position of labour
as a whole. Often the women themselves send a request for help, and
occasionally outsiders have invited the League to come and rouse the
impoverished and helpless workers of a district. Interest in the
subject is sometimes awakened by a discussion at a political meeting,
and various clubs and associations have from time to time invited
a member of the League’s Committee to give an address upon women’s
unions. If after some such beginning the ground seems ready for
working, and especially if the local Trades Council advises, a meeting
of women is called, and the officials of the League, aided by such
friendly supporters as the district may afford, explain the advantages
of combination. Afterwards the names of those willing to join a union
are taken down, and a date is arranged for a business meeting, at
which officers are chosen and rules formed. Members of the Trades
Council are generally present at the second meeting, to put the women
in the way of arranging their affairs. The society is now formed, and
it may seem that everything is going well; but the difficulties in the
way of successful unionism among a class so poor and so unaccustomed
to the methods of combination as the majority of working-women are
very great, and it is often found that in a few months membership has
dwindled to a small number, and the hopeful prospects of the opening
weeks have entirely disappeared. Often the committee is not up to its
work, accounts are badly kept, or the collectors are unable to arrange
a good working method for getting in subscriptions, a matter which
is by no means easy when the employers or their managers and foremen
happen to view the formation of the union with disfavour. Then again,
if, as sometimes happens, suspicion arises that the hard-earned funds
are being mismanaged, the union will melt away as if by magic, to be
re-organised only with great difficulty. In order to avoid this danger
as far as may be, and to give the newly-formed union an incentive to
perseverance, the League promises a second visit at the end of a year
to those societies which affiliate themselves to the central body. A
plan of spring and autumn tours has been arranged, and by grouping a
number of industrial centres in one part of the country the emissaries
of the League have been enabled to cover much more ground than would
have been possible in a series of detached visits. In this manner Lady
Dilke, Miss Routledge, Miss Holyoake, and others, have visited most
of the manufacturing districts of England and Scotland, and have even
carried their missionary enterprise as far as Belfast, where, since
the Trades Congress of 1893 great efforts have been made to organise
the labour of the women working in the linen and flax mills. Many
of the unions thus formed are affiliated to the League, including a
number in Scotland and the large mixed union of West Riding Power-Loom
Weavers, who have joined the League as far as their women members
are concerned. Recently a further step has been taken, by sending
out working women who have had experience in their own unions, as
organisers into districts where new unions are being formed; and it is
expected that this plan will be found extremely useful, as women who
are already overworked and underpaid have little strength or leisure
for arranging the preliminaries of organisation.
=Difficulties of Combination.=--The difficulty of forming unions among
women is undeniably great. Women are inexperienced in combination,
and they entertain a lively and by no means groundless fear of the
resentment of their employers. Unionism does not, it is true, often
meet with opposition from the better class of employers, who recognise
in it a salutary check on the efforts of unscrupulous rivals to force
down both prices and wages. Experience shews them, too, that unionism
discourages rather than fosters strikes, and in cases of difficulty
they would often prefer to deal with the accredited representatives of
the workpeople. But in many cases the attempt to form a combination
among women meets with the open hostility of their employers. It is
not uncommon for a woman who has undertaken the secretaryship of a
union to be summarily dismissed. The manager of a confectionery factory
in a large provincial town recently attempted to turn away all those
who had given in their names to a newly-formed union. Under these
circumstances it is not surprising that women, especially in the worst
paid trades, are afraid to join a trade union, and that even after
joining they readily fall away from an undertaking which may possibly
involve so serious a risk. If working women throughout the country were
dominated by this fear the cause of unionism would be hopeless; but
fortunately this is not the case, and we can only admire the courage
which enables women earning a miserable pittance to risk its loss by
identifying themselves with an unpopular movement. If the union were
strong it would of course set its face against arbitrary dismissals,
which are in themselves a powerful argument in favour of organisation;
but the difficulty is to prevent their occurrence during the early
years of the union. On this account it is useful, where possible, to
collect a fund for the relief of women who may be temporarily thrown
out of work owing to their active connection with a trade union; and
the knowledge that such a fund exists helps in itself to prevent the
occasion for its employment arising. The general public has little idea
of the extent to which unscrupulous employers take advantage of the
helpless position of working women. So widely separated are classes in
this country that a man may grind the faces of the poor and pass for
a saint among those of his own class. An employer remarked recently
to a friend who was advocating unions for women that they were not
necessary in his factory, as the women had already a fund to which they
subscribed. Further questioning elicited the fact that the “fund” was
derived from fines wrung from the women, and was managed entirely by
the employers. The firm is known for zeal and munificence in connection
with religious bodies, and the case is by no means an isolated one.
It is impossible to read the Report of the Lady Assistant Commissioners
without becoming convinced that combination is absolutely necessary, if
working women are to secure a reasonable modification of the scandalous
fines and deductions to which their wages are subjected. The extent
to which these iniquities prevail is now fully revealed for the first
time, and if the unions could attack this one point alone with success
they would have done much to raise the economic status of working women.
=Attitude of Men’s Unions.=--Much may be hoped for the future of
unionism among women, from the increased support which it receives
from the leaders of men’s unions; indeed, it is not too much to say
that herein lies the key to the position. It has often been cast in
the teeth of Trades Unionists that while struggling for freedom for
themselves they have regarded with indifference the economic position
of their working sisters, and have exerted their influence rather for
the restriction of women’s labour than for the improvement of its
conditions. It is a question, however, whether unionism in its early
years, struggling hard to maintain its existence, could have undertaken
the additional burden of organising the women. Sometimes the objections
raised to women’s work were exceedingly flimsy, and it is small credit
to a section of working men that they have shown themselves ready
to raise the cry of impropriety, and even immorality, against women
upon grounds which cannot bear the test of examination. Even were the
conditions of women’s work such as ought not to be tolerated (and no
one who knows the facts would say that this is never the case), the
true cure lies in the formation of unions among the women, since one
of the first things which a strong union would do is to stand out for
decent arrangements and reasonable conditions of work. The general
public often joins in and swells the cry against some particular
employment for women, instead of casting about to see if its defects
cannot be remedied. Thus, when the agitation was raised a few years ago
against the employment of women at the pit brows in Lancashire, the
charge of immorality was most unjustly raised against them, and even
their peculiar but necessary costume was made the ground of serious
indictments. The force expended upon this agitation might, if more
wisely directed, have secured for the women improved arrangements
for their comfort, which in some cases were much needed; but nobody
thought of this. Wider views, however, are now beginning to prevail,
and the generous support which is given to the claims of women by the
responsible leaders of working men may be expected gradually to disarm
the hostility which undoubtedly exists among a section of their class.
Of late years Trades Councils have repeatedly come forward with both
money and personal help to organise the labour of women--notably the
Councils of Aberdeen, Liverpool, Oldham, Huddersfield, Leicester, and
the Midland Counties Trades Federation. The Manchester and Salford
Trades Council has also taken the matter up, and is engaged upon a
systematic attempt to organise the female labour of the district. The
result of the experiment will be watched with interest.
=Results Established.=--The history of unionism among women, brief
though it be, may claim to have established the following points:
(1) That unions can be formed and carried on upon a firm financial
basis even in trades in which wages are very low.
(2) That the demands of a trade union are often sufficient to secure
for the workers a rise in wages or equivalent advantages, such as
shorter hours or the abolition of fines. Miss Collet, in her report of
the Liverpool district, mentions a union of tailoresses which succeeded
in obtaining a shortening of eleven hours in the working week. In the
lace trade Miss Abraham notes that “In two instances where fines seem
to have been heavy, the formation of a trade union among the workers
has had the effect of checking the system.” Many other examples might
be given.
(3) That unless unions are established, wages, especially in the
less-skilled trades, tend to fall. The competition of one employer
against another is generally sufficient in itself to bring about this
result, unless the workers oppose a solid front to the pressure from
above. The older members of badly-paid trades know this well, and it is
among them that the keenest advocates of combination are found.
=Factory and Home Work.=--Trades carried on wholly in factories have
hitherto proved the most amenable to combination. Low wages and
irregular employment, though sufficiently serious obstacles, are not
so prejudicial as the division of a trade into factory and home work,
or the existence of domestic workshops. In those of Cradley Heath,
near Birmingham, the isolation of the workers keeps down wages, and
the home, instead of being saved by the workshop, as some would have
us believe, is, upon the testimony of Miss Orme, Senior Assistant
Commissioner, almost always “desolate.” Where work is done wholly at
home it is difficult to bring influence to bear upon the women to
induce them to combine, and yet it is here that combination is most
necessary, since the workers have neither the support of companionship
nor the protection of the Factory Acts. With regard to domestic
workshops, it seems probable that legislation will in time bring
these irregular divisions of the labour army into line with the main
body. The first step has already been taken in the regulation which
compels employers to post up a list of their outworkers. All progress
in this direction is an aid to combination. In the joint influence of
legislation and unionism, aided where necessary by a more efficient
system of inspection, lies the chief hope of improvement in the less
fortunate branches of labour.
An evil which appears to belong exclusively to women’s labour is the
custom, prevalent among girls whose parents are fairly well off, of
working for pocket-money. Even where the parents are poor the cheapness
of boarding at home often induces girls to work for a rate of wages
which would be cruelly low for those who have to maintain themselves
entirely. Miss Collet’s report to the Labour Commission lays great
stress on this point. In Bristol, girls working in a cigar factory
often earn no more than 7_s._ 6_d._ or 9_s._ a week, pay 4_s._ or
5_s._ to their parents for weekly board, and seem “quite content” with
their low wages. The disastrous effect of this policy upon the general
standard of women’s wages needs no explanation. It is sufficient to
point out here that the practice forms a serious obstacle to successful
combination among women.
=Foreign Competition.=--Foreign competition is often advanced as an
argument against raising wages, and it cannot be denied that in some
cases it has force. It is safe, however, to say that there is little
warrant for its employment in wholesale condemnation of attempts to
raise wages in the worst-paid trades. We are told, for instance,
that matches made in the east end of London are undersold by the
still cheaper products of Sweden; yet match factories often pay high
dividends, and it is well known that the profits in a trade bear little
relation as a rule to the rate of wages paid to the workers. It is
generally found that where work is concentrated in large factories
under employers possessed of considerable capital fair wages are
obtainable, and the wretched rate of payment which prevails in many
of the East London trades is probably due more than is supposed to
the hole-and-corner manner in which the business is carried on. Where
foreign competition is not pressing, the necessity for producing cheap
goods is often urged as a valid reason for abstaining from any efforts
to secure reasonable wages for the producers. Desirable, however,
as cheapness may be, it is possible to purchase its advantages too
dearly. If the effect of combination among workers were to be a rise
in the price of matches, slop clothing, or fancy boxes, the consumer
would have little cause of complaint, and would soon acquiesce
philosophically in the altered condition of things. Nor can purchasers,
however well disposed toward the working classes, effect any change on
their own account. Such devices as a “Consumers’ League,” whose members
would bind themselves to deal only with firms paying a fair rate of
wages, must obviously fail, or if conceivably successful must do as
much harm as good until our means of obtaining information are much
more perfect than they are at present. No such rough-and-ready way of
forcing on reforms is of the slightest use; the workers themselves must
improve their condition by slow and patient effort. Outsiders may aid
and stimulate, but they cannot do the work.
DIRECTORY OF WOMEN’S TRADES UNIONS,
WITH NUMBER OF MEMBERS, WHERE KNOWN.
Unions marked with an asterisk enrol both men and women. The numbers
refer to women only.
_LONDON UNIONS._
THE WOMEN EMPLOYED IN BOOKBINDING.--Secretary, Miss E. Whyte.
280.
SHIRT AND COLLAR MAKERS’ SOCIETY.--Secretary, Mrs. Houlton. 50.
UPHOLSTERESSES’ SOCIETY.--Secretary, Miss Mears. 35.
Office for the above Societies,
Club Union Buildings,
Clerkenwell Road, E.C.
TAILORESSES’ TRADE UNION.--Westminster and Pimlico Branch.
Secretary, Mrs. Cooper, 7, Carnaby Street, W.
TAILORESSES’ Auxiliary to the Amalgamated Society of
Tailors.--Secretary, Miss Hicks. 260.
DRESSMAKERS, MILLINERS, AND MANTLE-MAKERS.--Secretary, Miss
Addis, 129, Marylebone Road, N.W. 30.
CIGAR MAKERS’ UNION.--Secretary, Mrs. Stanmore. Office,
Lockhart’s Cocoa Rooms, Commercial Street, Whitechapel. 800.
MATCHBOX MAKERS’ UNION.--Shoreditch. Hon. Secretary, Mrs.
Reilly, 63, Gloucester Street, Belgrave Road, S.W. 40.
MATCHMAKERS’ UNION.--Hon. Secretary, Mrs. Besant, Avenue Road,
N.W.
ROPEMAKERS’ UNION.--Secretary, Mrs. Hicks, 28, Lyme Street, N.W.
_PROVINCIAL UNIONS._
ABERDEEN: *Workmen and Workwomen’s Society. Secretary, W.
Johnston, 47, Belmont Street, Aberdeen. 100.
ALVA, N.B.: *Society of Associated Weavers. Secretary, John
Jack, Town Hall, Alva. 220.
BIRMINGHAM: Women employed in the Bedstead Trade. Secretary, W.
Mills, 3, Ford Street, Hockley.
BIRMINGHAM: Women’s Trade Society. Joint Secretaries, Mrs.
Steele, 93, King Edward’s Road, and Mrs. Thomas, 112½, Govet
Street.
BRIGHTON: Laundresses. Secretary, Mrs. Ford, 78, Livingstone
Road.
BRISTOL Association of Working Women. Secretary, Miss Talbot,
Oakfield Grove, Clifton. 39.
CARD AND BLOWING ROOM OPERATIVES, AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF.
General Secretary, W. Mullin, White’s Chambers, Blue Boar
Court, Market Place, Manchester. (21 branches.) 21,000.
DENTON: Association of Hat Trimmers and Wool
Formers.--Secretary, G. Wilde, 27, Seymour Street, Hyde. 4290.
DUNDEE: Mill and Factory Operatives’ Union. Office, 4, Mid
Street.
EDINBURGH: Women’s Union.
HEYWOOD BRANCH OF N.C.A.W. Secretary, J. W. Ogden, Argyle
Buildings.
LEICESTER: *Amalgamated Hosiery Union. Secretary, J. Holmes,
Exchange Buildings. 2,500.
LEICESTER: *N. U. of Boot and Shoe Operatives. Secretary, W.
Inskip, 17, Silver Street. 3,200.
LEEDS: Tailoresses. Secretary, Mrs. Panther, Exeter Street,
Woodhouse Lane. 140.
LEEK: Union of Women Silk Workers. Secretary, William Stubbs;
Assistant Secretary, Miss N. Shenton, 6, Haton Street.
LIVERPOOL: Bookfolders. Secretary, Margaret McConnell, 25,
Bewley Street.
LIVERPOOL: Tailoresses’ Coatmaking Union. Secretary, Mrs.
Walker, 15, Jessamine Street.
LIVERPOOL: Tailoresses’ Trade Society. Secretary, Mrs. Skelley,
28, Aber Street.
LIVERPOOL: Upholsteresses’ Union. Secretary, Miss Owen, Cocoa
Rooms, St. Luke’s Place, Bold Street.
LIVERPOOL: *Cloth Cap and Hat Makers’ Union.
MANCHESTER: Shirtmakers’ Union and Federation of Working Women.
Secretary, Mrs. M. Stretton, 24, Nelson Terrace, Brooks Bar.
300.
MIDLAND COUNTIES TRADES’ FEDERATION. General Secretary, R.
Juggins, 20, New Street, Darlaston, Wednesbury. (9 branches.)
1,500.
NOTTINGHAM: Cigar Makers’ Union. Secretary, Mrs. Briant, 5,
Birchin Street, Carrington. 800.
NOTTINGHAM: Women’s Hosiery Union. Secretary, S. Bowers, East
Street Schools.
NOTTINGHAM: Tailoresses’ Union. Secretary, G. Noble, 11, St.
Saviour’s Street.
NOTTINGHAM: Women Lace Makers’ Union. Secretary, H. Bartellot,
Great Freeman Street. 370.
OXFORD: Protective and Provident Society of Women working in
Trades. Secretary, Miss Farrant, 13, The Crescent. 80.
*SCOTTISH MILL AND FACTORY WORKERS FEDERAL UNION. Secretary, A.
Whyte, Templars’ Hall, Kirriemuir. 2,500.
STAFFORDSHIRE: Hanley. Women’s Pottery Union. Secretary, James
Bentley, Mission Hall Buildings, High Street, Hanley.
STAFFORDSHIRE: Burslem. Women’s Pottery Union. Secretary, Mrs.
Platt, 38, Brindley Street. 200.
SUNDERLAND: Paper Mill Workers Union. Secretary, R. Dale, 5,
Albany Terrace, Commercial Road.
SHOP ASSISTANTS’ UNION, NATIONAL. W. Johnson, General
Secretary, 55, Chancery Lane, E.C. (30 branches.) 300.
*WEAVERS, NORTHERN COUNTIES AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF. General
Secretary, W. H. Wilkinson. Head Office, Endbank Chambers,
Accrington. (29 branches.) 43,000.
*WEAVERS, WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE POWER LOOM ASSOCIATION
OF. Secretary, Allen Gee. Head Office, Friendly and Trades
Societies Club, Huddersfield. (20 branches.) 2,000.
*WEAVERS, UNION OF. Secretary, Edwin Hill, 55, Park Street,
Trowbridge.
*WEAVERS. Yeadon, Guiseley, and District. H. Lockwood, North
Terrace, Yeadon. 276.
WHITWORTH VALE BRANCH OF N.C.A.W. Secretary, Ralph Earlwood,
Market Street, Shawforth.