Trades Councils: Model Rules and Notes for Guidance

Many thanks to PM for forwarding this document to the Archive.

It is a short twelve page pamphlet that outlines the rules and notes for guidance from ICTU. It was a part of the Education Programme of Congress and one of a number of booklets issued by ICTU designed to give members an insight into the workings of various aspects of the unions, including ‘Your Union and You’, ‘Operating the ‘All-Out Strike’’ and ‘Structure and Functions of Congress’.

The introduction touches on this noting that:

The circumstances in which a modern trade council performs its fucitnos have changed substantially since the first trades councils were established. Centralisation of organisation, national agreements, social changes and such developments as modern transport facilities, and modern information services (press, radio and TV) have brought about changes both in trade union organisation and in the communities in which trades councils operate.

It argues that ‘some trades councils have not sufficiently adapted themselves to the changes which have taken place… the result if frustration, andy eh council may eventually find itself unable to continue in operation due to lack of interest by its members’.

It suggests that:

Of the functions (of trades councils) probably the most important is the provision of a line of communication between membership and Congress and between members of different unions in a locality. The development and strengthening of these ‘lines of communication’ is essential to the integration of the trade union movement, enabling it to act in a unified manner and so achieve its economic and social objectives.

Comments

You can also join the discussion on The Cedar Lounge Revolution

No Comments yet.

Add a Comment