[586]The makers of tin plates had a Union in South Wales (established 1871, and reorganised 1887) which claimed a membership of 10,000. The National Amalgamated Tinplate Workers’ Association of Great Britain (established 1876) had 3000 members, and the General Union of Sheet Metal Workers (established 1861) had 1250 members.
[587]The Alliance Cabinetmakers’ Association (established 1865, 5500 members) and the National Association of Operative Plasterers (established 1862, 7000 members).
[588]The South Wales miners were, at this date, in a transition state. The Miners’ Federation had gained a considerable following in Monmouthshire and Glamorgan, but the bulk of the men still adhered to the Sliding Scale machinery, claiming 36,000 members, for the maintenance of which a fortnightly contribution was usually deducted by the employers from the miners’ earnings. The Forest of Dean Miners’ Association (4000 members) seceded from the Federation in 1893. A small Miners’ Union (2250 members) at West Bromwich also held aloof.
[589]The Cotton-spinners’ Union was then composed exclusively of adult males, the boy “piecers” being brigaded in subordinate organisations. In the Cotton-weavers and Card-room Operatives’ Unions women formed a large majority of the members.
[590]The United Kingdom Society of Coachmakers (established 1834) had 5500 members. The Mutual Association of Coopers (established 1878) was then a loose federation of old-fashioned local Unions, with about 6000 members.
[591]We did not include in the above statistics the Unions in classes not included among the manual workers. The National Union of Teachers, established 1870, was, already in 1892, a powerful organisation with 23,000 members. The Telegraph Clerks, Life Assurance Agents, and Shop Assistants also had Unions varying from 1000 to 5000 members, and there were two organisations of postal employees. The National Unions of Clerks and Domestic Servants were less definitely established. There were also small societies among the London Dock Foremen and Clerks and the Poplar Ships’ Clerks.
Nor did we include such essentially benefit societies as the Marine Engineers’ Union (9500 members) and the United Kingdom Pilots’ Association, which were composed largely of workmen belonging for trade purposes to particular Trade Unions.
[592]The census figures for 1891 merge, for each trade, “workmen, assistants, apprentices, and labourers.” They do not, for instance, distinguish between Bricklayers and Bricklayers’ Labourers, who belong to very different Trade Unions. Under Hosiers or Hatters are included shop-keepers and their assistants, as well as the manufacturing operatives.
[593]Old members often recall the days when the men used to come to the club straight from work, and “in their dirt.” They frequently ascribe the orderly behaviour at club meetings at the present time, as compared with the rowdiness of the past, largely to this change of habit, itself a direct result of the reduction of the hours of labour.
[594]Many Unions forbid all drinking during the branch meeting.