Wednesday 2 May 2018

Trades Union Congress 150 years: commemorative sheet.

In June 2018 the Trades Union Congress (TUC) will celebrate its 150th Anniversary. The first TUC meeting was held in 1868 when the Manchester and Salford Trades Council convened the founding meeting in the Manchester Mechanics' Institute.

The fact that the TUC was formed by Northern Trades Councils was not coincidental. One of the issues which prompted this initiative was the perception that the London Trades Council which was formed in 1860 was taking a dominant a role in speaking for the Trade Union Movement as a whole.

In 1897 the Congress, took the decision to form a more centralised trade union structure that would enable a more militant approach to be taken to fighting the employer and even achieving the socialist transformation of society. The result was the General Federation of Trade Unions which was formed in 1899. For some years it was unclear which body (the GFTU or the TUC) would emerge as the national trade union centre for the UK and for a while both were recognised as such by different fraternal organisations in other countries. However, it was soon agreed amongst the major unions that the TUC should take the leading role and that this would be the central body of the organised Labour Movement in the UK.

Although the Royal Mail website says that this was issued on 18 May, the actual date was 1 June according to information provided to the trade, and special postmarks were produced for the later date.


The self-adhesive sheet has been designed by Hat-trick Design and International Security Printers in lithography. It contains 10 'Royalty Seal' stamps each with a label attached depicting scenes from major events in British labour history.  This includes the Tolpuddle Martyrs' deportation in 1834, the London dock strike of 1880, the 1968 Ford car plant strikes for equal pay, and the Grunwick dispute over mistreatment by management in 1976.  All images are (c) TUC Library.


6 comments:

  1. It surprises me that more has not been made of this. Trades Unions, whether you like them or not, have been an important part of British Life - more than some, rich women being given the vote 100 years ago for example. It deserved a proper issue really.

    ReplyDelete
  2. According to Royal Mail website, it was released on 18th May

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's not the information provided to the trade. 1 June was the issue date.

      Delete
    2. From Royal Mail via Twitter:

      "The Issue date is 01 June. Thank you for pointing out the error on the website. Thanks"

      Delete
  3. Do you think Stanley Gibbons will allocate a catalogue number for each stamp, as I suspect people attending the conference would, possibly, want to send postcards or letters with a stamp on them, or will the number be allocated to the sheetlet?
    Joseph

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They don't allocate numbers to individual stamps because they are all the same.

      They don't even allocate numbers to the sheets, they just list them in the back of the Concise catalogue. This is because they are sold at such a large premium over face value and not available from (many if any) post offices.

      Delete

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