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Notoriously Militant:The Story Of A Union Branch At Ford Dagenham
by Sheila Cohen
(Merlin Books, £15.95)
This book is a fascinating history of the T&G 1/1107 branch at Fords in Dagenham which, for anyone living in the post-war period in the East End of London, was the dominant employer in the area.
The book is interlarded with anecdotes from union activists who cut their teeth in the branch and now occupy positions elsewhere in the movement and it demonstrates how a well-organised and properly led trade union branch can exert a positive lead within the rank-and-file shop steward movement.
Most of it is told by those involved, including Kevin Halpin who was an effective shop steward on site and therefore got rid of as soon as the bosses could.
Today, when even joining a union is regarded as an act of high treason, it is hard to appreciate the tensions that existed between powerful trade union bureaucracies and militant shop stewards organisations at that time.
Add to that an employer whose founder was notoriously anti-union and you begin to appreciate the battleground that this book describes against the backdrop of the growth of trade unions post-WWII, production line drudgery, the battle for a decent wage and proper conditions.
It also highlights the growing emergence of women within the trade unions and the backing given to the struggle of the sisters by this trade union branch.
1/1107 played a key role in establishing shop floor stewards organisations and extending that across all Ford plants both in Britain and abroad and it's instructive to reflect that had the trade union and labour movement adopted the principles espoused by the branch during the '70s and '80s life might be very different today post Wapping and the destruction of coalmining.
I did blanch however at some of the author's descriptions of the All Trade Union Alliance of the WRP and the various SWP fronts as "mass organisations" yet Sheila Cohen always writes with meticulous research and overwhelming thoroughness. A comprehensive and fascinating history of a purple period for the trade union movement and comes highly recommended.
Ivan Beavis
