Jack Jones (trade union leader)
Encyclopedia
James Larkin Jones, CH
, MBE
(29 March 1913 – 21 April 2009), known as Jack Jones, was a British trade union
leader and General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union
.
, Liverpool
. He left school at 14 and worked as an engineering apprentice. After the Wall Street Crash, Jones lost his job, eventually finding employment with a firm of signmakers and painters. He then joined his father as a Liverpool docker.
Jack Jones was converted to socialism
by reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
by Robert Tressell
, and he later explained how the book "was passed from hand to hand among people in the Labour movement and had a remarkable effect on our thinking". He became a member of the Transport and General Workers Union, and was elected shop steward, then a delegate on the National Docks Group Committee.
and their leader Oswald Mosley
, Jones organised protest-meetings against the fascists in Liverpool, and was beaten up by a group of Blackshirts
armed with knuckle-dusters. In 1936 at the start of the Spanish Civil War
, Jones joined and served with the British Battalion
of the XV International Brigade
as the political commissar
of the Major Attlee Company, and was seriously wounded at the Battle of Ebro in 1938.
. Jones played a key role in organising the workforce of the West Midlands
motor industry in the postwar period as Regional Secretary of the TGWU. He was a strong supporter of the shop steward movement aimed at promoting trade union and industrial democracy
. He was an early supporter of the Institute for Workers' Control
. While Assistant General Secretary of the union and a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party
, he chaired the Labour Party policy group on Industrial Democracy.
, President of the Amalgamated Engineering Union he led the left-wing trade union opposition (associated with Broad Left) to the 1966-70 Labour Government's prices and incomes policy
, and the efforts of that government to introduce legislation that would have enforced a 28-day cooling off period before strike action could be taken.
While General Secretary, he was chief economic spokesman for the Trades Union Congress
and one of the authors of the Social Contract
. Jones was also instrumental in the creation of the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service (Acas
) in 1975, and was a member of the National Economic Development Council
from 1969 to 1978. Jones campaigned for Britain to leave the EEC in the 1975 referendum.
In January 1977 a Gallup opinion poll found that 54% of people believed that Jones was the most powerful person in Britain, ahead of the Prime Minister, and is held responsible by some in the Labour Party
for being "the union leader that created the winter of discontent
and 18 years of Conservative Party (UK)
rule."
According to KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky
, Jones provided intelligence to the Soviet Union in return for money. This was denied by Jones, who described the allegations as a "slur and an outrage". In the authorised history of MI5
The Defence Of The Realm, the author Christopher Andrew, using Gordievsky as his source, claimed that Jones passed Labour Party
documents to the Soviets for cash, with the last payments to Jones occurring in 1984.
, an umbrella organisation representing over 1,000 local, regional and national pensioners' groups, of which he was Honorary Life President. He was also President of the International Brigade Memorial Trust
. Jack Jones' last public act was to unveil a memorial at Newhaven Fort
on 7 December 2008, 70 years after British Battalion
members returned to the port after the International Brigades
were withdrawn from Spain.
Jones was nominated for the position of Chancellor
of the University of London
, but lost the election
to Princess Anne
in 1981. After writing his autobiography
, Union Man (published in 1986), Jones became a campaigner on behalf of pensioner
s.
At the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth in October 2003, aged 90, he received a special award in recognition of his service to the trade union movement.
The TGWU building Transport House in Liverpool was refurbished by Unite
(the trade union formed from the merger of the TGWU and Amicus
) and renamed Jack Jones House in 2009.
until his death, and died in a care home in Peckham
on 21 April 2009. He is survived by his two sons. His wife of more than 50 years, Evelyn (née Taylor) had died three years earlier. She had first been married to the communist trade union organiser and close friend of Jones, George Brown
but he had been killed in the Battle of Brunete
in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War
.
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion....
, MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(29 March 1913 – 21 April 2009), known as Jack Jones, was a British trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
leader and General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union, also known as the TGWU and the T&G, was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland - where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union - with 900,000 members...
.
Early life
Jones was born in GarstonGarston, Merseyside
Garston is a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is bordered by Aigburth, Allerton, and Speke.-History:Gaerstun, meaning 'grazing settlement' or 'grazing farm' in Old English, is one possible root of the name....
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. He left school at 14 and worked as an engineering apprentice. After the Wall Street Crash, Jones lost his job, eventually finding employment with a firm of signmakers and painters. He then joined his father as a Liverpool docker.
Jack Jones was converted to socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
by reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists is a novel by Robert Tressell first published in 1914 after his death in 1911. An explicitly political work, it is widely regarded as a classic of working-class literature.-Background:...
by Robert Tressell
Robert Tressell
Robert Tressell was the nom-de-plume of Robert Croker, latterly Robert Noonan, an Irish writer best known for his novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.-Early life:...
, and he later explained how the book "was passed from hand to hand among people in the Labour movement and had a remarkable effect on our thinking". He became a member of the Transport and General Workers Union, and was elected shop steward, then a delegate on the National Docks Group Committee.
Spanish Civil War
Strongly opposed to the British Union of FascistsBritish Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
and their leader Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
, Jones organised protest-meetings against the fascists in Liverpool, and was beaten up by a group of Blackshirts
Blackshirts
The Blackshirts were Fascist paramilitary groups in Italy during the period immediately following World War I and until the end of World War II...
armed with knuckle-dusters. In 1936 at the start of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, Jones joined and served with the British Battalion
British Battalion
The British Battalion was the 16th battalion of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.- Early volunteers :A number of British volunteers, including Tom Wintringham and Nat Cohen, arrived in Spain during August-September 1936 and formed the Tom Mann Centuria - a rifle company in...
of the XV International Brigade
XV International Brigade
The XV International Brigade fought for the Spanish Second Republic in the Spanish Civil War as a part of the International Brigades. It was mustered at Albacete in Spain, in January 1937, comprising many English-speaking volunteers - arranged into a mostly British British Battalion and a mostly...
as the political commissar
Political commissar
The political commissar is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
of the Major Attlee Company, and was seriously wounded at the Battle of Ebro in 1938.
Second World War
On his return to England, Jones became a full-time official of the TGWU in CoventryCoventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
. Jones played a key role in organising the workforce of the West Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
motor industry in the postwar period as Regional Secretary of the TGWU. He was a strong supporter of the shop steward movement aimed at promoting trade union and industrial democracy
Industrial democracy
Industrial democracy is an arrangement which involves workers making decisions, sharing responsibility and authority in the workplace. While in participative management organizational designs workers are listened to and take part in the decision-making process, in organizations employing industrial...
. He was an early supporter of the Institute for Workers' Control
Institute for Workers' Control
The Institute for Workers' Control was founded in 1968 by Tony Topham and Ken Coates, the latter then a leader of the International Marxist Group and subsequently professor at the University of Nottingham and a member of the European Parliament from 1989 until 1999.The Institute drew together shop...
. While Assistant General Secretary of the union and a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, he chaired the Labour Party policy group on Industrial Democracy.
General Secretary of the Union
Jones was elected General Secretary of the TGWU in 1968. Together with Hugh ScanlonHugh Scanlon
Hugh Parr Scanlon, Baron Scanlon was a British trade union leader.Scanlon was born in Melbourne, Australia to parents who had emigrated from Britain...
, President of the Amalgamated Engineering Union he led the left-wing trade union opposition (associated with Broad Left) to the 1966-70 Labour Government's prices and incomes policy
Incomes policy
Incomes policies in economics are economy-wide wage and price controls, most commonly instituted as a response to inflation, and usually below market level.Incomes policies have often been resorted to during wartime...
, and the efforts of that government to introduce legislation that would have enforced a 28-day cooling off period before strike action could be taken.
While General Secretary, he was chief economic spokesman for the Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
and one of the authors of the Social Contract
Social Contract (Britain)
The Social Contract is a term used to describe policy by the Labour government of Harold Wilson in 1970s Britain.In return for the repeal of 1971 Industrial Relations Act, food subsides and a freeze on rent increase, the TUC would be able to persuade its members to cooperate in a programme of...
. Jones was also instrumental in the creation of the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service (Acas
Acas
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service is a Crown non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to improve organisations and working life through the promotion and facilitation of strong industrial relations practice...
) in 1975, and was a member of the National Economic Development Council
National Economic Development Council
The National Economic Development Council was a corporatist economic planning forum set up in the 1962 in the United Kingdom to bring together management, trades unions and government in an attempt to address Britain's relative economic decline. It was supported by the National Economic...
from 1969 to 1978. Jones campaigned for Britain to leave the EEC in the 1975 referendum.
In January 1977 a Gallup opinion poll found that 54% of people believed that Jones was the most powerful person in Britain, ahead of the Prime Minister, and is held responsible by some in the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
for being "the union leader that created the winter of discontent
Winter of Discontent
The "Winter of Discontent" is an expression, popularised by the British media, referring to the winter of 1978–79 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by local authority trade unions demanding larger pay rises for their members, because the Labour government of...
and 18 years of Conservative Party (UK)
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
rule."
According to KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky , CMG , is a former Colonel of the KGB and KGB Resident-designate and bureau chief in London, who was a secret agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1974 to 1985.-Early career:Oleg Gordievsky attended the Moscow State Institute of International...
, Jones provided intelligence to the Soviet Union in return for money. This was denied by Jones, who described the allegations as a "slur and an outrage". In the authorised history of MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
The Defence Of The Realm, the author Christopher Andrew, using Gordievsky as his source, claimed that Jones passed Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
documents to the Soviets for cash, with the last payments to Jones occurring in 1984.
Retirement
In retirement from the T&G, Jones served as the President of the National Pensioners ConventionNational Pensioners Convention
The National Pensioners Convention is the principal organisation representing pensioners in the United Kingdom. It is made up of around 1,000 bodies representing 1.5 million members, organised into federal regional units....
, an umbrella organisation representing over 1,000 local, regional and national pensioners' groups, of which he was Honorary Life President. He was also President of the International Brigade Memorial Trust
International Brigade Memorial Trust
The International Brigade Memorial Trust is a British educational trust formed by the veterans of the International Brigade Association, the Friends of the IBA, representatives of the Marx Memorial Library, and historians specialising in the Spanish Civil War....
. Jack Jones' last public act was to unveil a memorial at Newhaven Fort
Newhaven Fort
Newhaven Fort was built on the recommendation of the 1859 Royal Commission to defend the growing harbour at Newhaven, on the south coast of England...
on 7 December 2008, 70 years after British Battalion
British Battalion
The British Battalion was the 16th battalion of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.- Early volunteers :A number of British volunteers, including Tom Wintringham and Nat Cohen, arrived in Spain during August-September 1936 and formed the Tom Mann Centuria - a rifle company in...
members returned to the port after the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
were withdrawn from Spain.
Jones was nominated for the position of Chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, but lost the election
University of London Chancellor election, 1981
The 1981 University of London election for the position of Chancellor was called upon when the incumbent Chancellor, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother announced in December 1980 that she was retiring from the position...
to Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
in 1981. After writing his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, Union Man (published in 1986), Jones became a campaigner on behalf of pensioner
Pensioner
In common parlance, a pensioner is a person who has retired, and now collects a pension. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom and Australia where someone of pensionable age may also be referred to as an 'old age pensioner', or OAP. In the United States, the term retiree is more...
s.
At the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth in October 2003, aged 90, he received a special award in recognition of his service to the trade union movement.
The TGWU building Transport House in Liverpool was refurbished by Unite
Unite the Union
Unite – the Union, known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union, formed on 1 May 2007, by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union...
(the trade union formed from the merger of the TGWU and Amicus
Amicus
Amicus was the United Kingdom's second-largest trade union, and the largest private sector union, formed by the merger of Manufacturing Science and Finance, the AEEU agreed in 2001, and two smaller unions, UNIFI and the GPMU...
) and renamed Jack Jones House in 2009.
Death
Jones lived in South LondonSouth London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
until his death, and died in a care home in Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
on 21 April 2009. He is survived by his two sons. His wife of more than 50 years, Evelyn (née Taylor) had died three years earlier. She had first been married to the communist trade union organiser and close friend of Jones, George Brown
George Brown (communist)
George Brown was an Irish born communist activist and trade unionist who was based in Manchester, England for most of his life. He was a brigadista in the International Brigades fighting on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and was killed in the Battle of Brunete in 1937.George Brown...
but he had been killed in the Battle of Brunete
Battle of Brunete
The Battle of Brunete , fought 15 miles west of Madrid, was a Republican attempt to alleviate the pressure exerted by the Nationalists on the capital and on the north during the Spanish Civil War...
in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
External links
- Legacy of Jack Jones 1913-2009 by Dave StockingDave StockingDave Stocking is one of the original members of Workers' Power, a group that was formed after the Left Faction, was expelled from the International Socialists for refusing to dissolve their faction in 1974....
of The League for the Fifth International - Jack Jones - Daily Telegraph obituary
- Pay tribute to Jack Jones