Catalogue Number
NMLH.2011.2.12
Object Name
Medal
Title
Transport And General Workers' Union 1889-1989
Place
London
People
Jack Jones, Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union
Events
Great Dock Strike 1889
Date
1989
Creator(s)
Toye, Kenning, Spencer
Description
A round silver coloured medal. The front shows a scene of people carrying union banners with the dates 1889-1989. The reverse says 'Six Pence'.
This commemorative centenary medal belonged to the British trade union leader, Jack Jones (1913-2009). The medal commemorates the Great Dock Strike of 1889, which is considered one of the great successes of the early British trade union movement. The dockers unionised as the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union, and went on strike over pay, demanding sixpence per hour, a wage that became known as the "dockers' tanner" - this is why the medal is shaped like a sixpence. Jones had been a docker in Liverpool during the 1930s. It is here that he became a socialist, and a trade union organiser.
Jack Jones was born in Liverpool, and became a docker after losing his job as an engineer during the Great Depression. He describes being a socialist after reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists after being passed the book in workplace. Jones describes this as the method through which many workers became convinced of the need to participate in an organised labour movement. Jones joined the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), became a shop steward, then joined the National Docks Group Committee, becoming general secretary of the entire TGWU in 1968. One of his achievements as a union leader was helping to establish the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) which acts as a neutral party to help solve disputes and grievances between workers and employers. By 1977, polls indicated that 54% of people viewed Jones as the most powerful man in the country, outstripping even the Prime Minister and the monarch. A committed anti-fascist, Jones also fought in the
British Battalion of the XV (Fifteenth) International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, and was wounded during the Battle of the Ebro in 1938. PHM's collection of medals from Jones are largely a mix of honours relating to his service in Spain, and acknowledgements of his service to the trade union movement.
