Potbank and union : a study of work and trade unionism in the pottery industry, 1900-1924

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Abstract

The thesis analyses work and trade unionism in the pottery
industry between 1900-1924. It explores the structural influences
on work and unionism and the experience of the people involved. The
main contextual features studied include: the industrial framework;
ceramic technology and production; the social relations of the workplace;
the union's origins and growth; employer action and the potters'
relationship with the community, labour movement and state. The study
demonstrates how social and economic relations moulded perceptions and
that individuals could shape those relations.
There are five sections. The first shows the industry's economic
structure was the principal determinant of the potter's work. Past
industrial development conditioned responses to the events of the
1900-1924 period. Worker and management actions are related to the
variety of markets and technology. Secondly, an examination of the
production process reveals the sectionalism of the industry's internal
relations which affected the potters' attempts at collective
organization. Thirdly the evolution of trade unionism and its
amalgamated form are explained. Initially the union was craft dominated
but during the period came to reflect the composite workforce's response
to industrial change. The workgroup, the family and local loyalties
formed the basis of union organization. Fourthly, management's desire
to control production had a major impact on work and union experience.
Industrial bargaining and conflict reinforced the sectionalism of the
workforce and the fragmentation of the union. Finally, the class
consciousness and political attitudes of the potters resulted from the
interaction of workplace and community and were also modified by the
potters' relations with other classes, the labour movement and the state.
The period constitutes a discontinuity in the development of the
Potteries given the changes which occurred in technology, capital and
labour organizations and industrial relations. The thesis is the first
account of work and unionism in this era of the pottery industry's
history and challenges orthodox interpretations of the technical and
social aspects of pottery manufacture. It seeks to understand the social
basis of work and trade unionism and to broaden the historical study of
women workers, industrial disease and the intersection of home, work and
trade unionism.

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