TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS' UNION

(TGWU) labour union that was the largest in Great Britain throughout much of the 20th century. Its origins extend back to 1889, when the Dockers' Union was formed. That union took the lead in the 1922 merger of 14 unions having a combined membership of more than 300,000. A dominant influence in the TGWU's formation and growth was Ernest Bevin, the union's first general secretary (192240). As a general union prepared to enroll workers who had been excluded by the rigid requirements of the craft unions, the TGWU enjoyed a remarkable growth, reaching a membership of more than 2,000,000 by the 1970s. Its membership included all categories of workers engaged in transport (except the railroads) as well as workers in the automotive, construction, chemical, textile, and other industries. By organizing the semiskilled and unskilled workers employed in smaller manufacturing industries, the general workers' unions such as the TGWU served workers that neither the craft unions nor the mass-production industrial unions had reached. The TGWU has been characterized by an unusual degree of internal democracy, stability, and influence on general trade union policy in Britain. It long exerted a powerful influence within both the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party. The TGWU, along with other British trade unions, experienced a significant decline in its membership and influence beginning in the 1970s, however.