Managerial Unionism in the Coal Industry

r NHE RAPID GROWTH in trade unionism among wageearners since I938 has received adequate documentation, but there has been little speculation about future developments. It would now appear that unionism among wage-earners is reaching its limits. Probably the only major areas left for organizing are the service trades and in these areas the unions seem quite content to rely on minimum wage legislation.2 Future growth of trade unionism must therefore depend on the reactions of white-collar workers. Analysis of the behaviour and organization of salaried employers has, however, lagged behind that carried out on wage-earners. Mr. D. Loekwood has revised Klingender3 and a few sorties have been made in the Eelds of the National Health Service, local government and teaching, but the professions have not received adequate attention since the classic work of Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders and Mr. P. A. Wilson.4 This is surprising, for uponthe behaviour of white-collarworkers depends not only the development of trade unionism, but also industrial, social and political relationships within our society. Professor Revans has made us aware of the size of the work unit as a determinant of industrial well-being, and Professors Jewkes and Sergeant Florence have pointed out that, though the average size of factory measured in terms of wage-earners employed has remained fairly constant since I935, it has been growing in terms of salaried employees.5 Traditionally, trade unions of wage-earners have supported the Labour Party both morally and financially. The growth in the numbers of the salariat and the relative decline in the numbers of manual workers poses the problem of the future ofthe Labour Party. Mr. H. A. Turner has confronted us with a statistical relationship which, for the period since I945, indicates that as the salariat rose by 1 per cent per annum there was a fall of per eent per annum in the votes cast for the Labour Party.6 The purposes of this article are: (I ) to trace the factors which have been responsible for the develop356

Coal · Economic geography · Economics · Management · Political economy · Sociology · Waste management · Engineering · Labor Movements and Unions

• The History of White-Collar Unions and Industrial Relations

  George Sayers Bain, George Bain et al.•Labour History Review•1965

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• Colliery Deputies in the British Coal Industry Before Nationalization

  Open Access•Peter Ackers•International Review of Social…•1994

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