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USES OF WORKING CLASS POWER IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
13. In 1939 when war was declared, the Government had learned from World War I to offer the trade unions "complete consultation" in all aspects of production from the very beginning. In practice this meant that the working class at the shopfloor expected and were given reasons for management decisions and also had the right to ask why production was not being maximised or expedited by management, that is, to declare "no confidence" in their employers and be listened to and sometimes supported by the Government. Where the working class proved that management had consistently taken incorrect decisions, the ministry removed the management and sometimes vested control in the works committee. By 1941, the working class was sufficiently interested in the problems of production to demand the establishment of joint works production committees in the engineering industry. The workers' representatives would be able to bring up any aspect of production and have the right to expect full co-operation from the employers in discussing and working out a solution. At first these committees were established in factories where workers were most determined and militant. By 1942, the Confederation of Engineering and Shipbuilding unions had with the help of strong Government pressure negotiated an agreement with the Engineering Employers Federation whereby the employers undertook to co-operate with the unions in establishing committees in all federated firms with 150 or more workers, representing two million workers; 600 committees had been voluntarily set up in munitions factories with less than 150 workers; over 200 existed in non-munitions engineering firms. By June 1944 there were over 4,500 committees in the engineering and allied industries in factories of 150 and over; and more than 1,600 in the smaller firms. These arrangements lapsed with the end of the war - and there was no working class pressure for their continuance.
Ernest Bevin, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, had been Minister of Labour since 1943. His method of ensuring continuous (strike-free) production and a measure of abstention in wage-increases was to make it compulsory for all war industries to observe trade union agreed wage rates and conditions. Trade unions could take an employer to court for failure to comply with collectively bargained terms. Collective bargaining carried on at both industry and factory levels as before, but disputes were settled by compulsory arbitration which was legally enforceable rather than strikes or lock-outs. In 1945 trade union membership had doubled from its 1938 figure and was to remain more or less at that figure for the next 25 years. Bevin's measures had ensured that even the most reactionary employers were forced to take trade unions seriously in their factories' every day work and observe minimum conditions of employment and wages. The working class benefited materially from the war. From 1938-45 the index of retail prices (compiled by the London and Cambridge Economic Service) had increased 48%, average weekly earnings had increased 80%.