The British TUC and the European Community

See E.B. Haas , The Uniting of Europe (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1958).

For a representative example of this approach, S. Picciotto , 'The Limits and Prospects of Trade Union Internationalism', International Journal of the Sociology of Law (Vol. 10, No. 3, 1983), pp. 317-25.

For more information about the policies of British trade unions to the European Community before the 1970s, see C. Beaver , European Unity and the Trade Union Movement (London: Macmillan , 1980), and Eli Marx et al, 'Unions in Europe', Sussex Paper on European Studies (Brighton, 1971).

Regular contributors to this journal were Shirley Williams, Bill Rogers, David Owen and Roy Jenkins - the 'gang of four' who left the Labour Party to form the Social Democratic Party.

The largest trade union in Britain, the Transport and General Workers Union, was a consistent opponent of the Common Market during the sixties.

For a good example of the thinking of the pragmatic centre, see the General Council's Report to Congress , ' Britain and the EEC - the Economic Impact', Supplement to the TUC Annual Report 1971.

For more on the politics of international trade unions, see J.P. Windmuller , International Trade Union Movement (Antwerp: Boston, 1980).

Vwe Kitzinger argues in Challenge of the Common Market ( Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1972) that the British political establishment felt increasingly isolated by not being in the Common Market.

For a detailed account of the development of trade union organisations at the European level, see B. Batanouin , The European Labour Movement and European Integration (London: Frances Pinter , 1986).

B. Roberts and R. Libheiberg , 'The European Trade Union Confederation Influence of Regional, Detente and Multinationals', British Journal of Industrial Relations (Vol 19, No., 1976), pp. 307-21.

TUC , TUC Annual Report 1971, p. 319.

The Times, 30 May 1975, p. 4.

TUC , Renegotiations and the Referendum (London: TUC , 1975), p. 9.

The Times, 5 September 1976, p. 4.

For greater detail on this episode, see G. Dorfman , 'From the Inside Looking Out! The Trade Union Congress in the EEC', Journal of Common Market Studies (Vol. 15, No. 4, June 1977), pp. 248-71.

Both national trade union centres and European trade union industrial committees can become affiliates to the European Trade Union Confederation. In practice, the ETUC does not interfere in the decision-making of industrial committees. But to promote a separate and new identity for European trade unions, it initially made the stipulation that any affiliate industrial committee should have no formal links with any other international body. This stipulation was regarded too stringent by some, triggering the dispute.

For a fuller account of the differences between European trade unions, see J. Hayward (ed.), Trade Unions and Politics in Western Europe (London: Frank Cass, 1980).

See TUC Annual Report 1978, p. 202.

Ibid, p. 227.

Interviews with officials from ASTMS, TGWU and the TUC International Office.

See John Grath and Paul Teague , ' The British Labour Party and the European Community', Political Quarterly (Vol. 59, No. 1, Jan. 1988), pp. 43-59.

This friction between the TUC and other European trade unions is referred to, albeit obscurely, in the TUC Annual Report for 1981 and 1982.

Tribune, 23 November 1982, p. 7.

Interviews with ETUC and European Commission officials.

Richter , Political Purpose in Trade Unions (London: Allen and Unwin, 1973).

T. Nairn , 'The Left Against Europe', New Left Review (No. 75, Special Edition, 1972).

Dorfman , op. cit.

Ibid, p. 251.

Ibid, p. 289.

For an example of this viewpoint, see B. Fine and L. Harris , The Peculiarities of the British Economy (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1986).

TUC , 'The Development of the Social Contract ', Supplementary Report to Congress 1975, p. 5.

F. Cripps , 'The British Crisis: Can the Left Win', New Left Review (July-August 1981), p.3.

B. Rowthorn , 'The TUC Programme for Recovery', Comment (1982), p. 7.

See P. Teague , 'Labour and Europe: The Response of British Trade Unions to membership of the European Community', unpublished PhD, University of London, 1984.

House of Lords Sub-Committee on European Communities , 'EEC Regional Policy', Thirteenth Report, Vol. 2, 1976-77, p. 86.

House of Lords Sub-Committee on European Communities , 'EEC Textile Policy', Sixteenth Report, 1978-79, p. 36.

Interviews with TUC officials.