Catalogue Number
NMLH.2011.2.16
Object Name
Badge
Title
'TUC 1978. David Basnett President Brighton'
Place
Brighton, Sussex
People
Jack Jones, David Basnett, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU)
Events
TUC Annual Conference 1978
Date
1978
Description
A gold, oval badge with TUC 1978 in the centre surrounded by a maroon border. The reverse is engraved to Jack Jones.
This badge was presented to the British trade union leader, Jack Jones (1913-2009) by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) at their 1978 Conference to mark Jones' retirement as General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU). 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, 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.
