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United we stand, divided we fall
GAWAIN LITTLE recalls the early history of British trade unionism and the salutary lessons it contains for the present
PRESENT AND CORRECT: The GFTU banner is paraded last week during the 2024 Durham Miners’ Gala

ONE hundred and twenty five years ago this weekend, the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) held its founding conference. 

Delegates from 44 unions, representing between them 310,437 members came together to build an industrial federation capable of taking on the might of the employers’ combinations.

The unions represented included the Amalgamated Society of Engineers; the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives; the National Union of Gasworkers and General Labourers; The Dock, Warf, Riverside and General Workers’ Union and many others.

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