Agreement with the trades unions

 

Lloyd George, as Minister for Munitions, brought all the companies that made shells and weapons under the control of the government or state for as long as the war lasted. Ship building, mining and railways were also taken under state control. The government subsidised the cost of bread to keep its price down. These were remarkable changes in a country which had always been suspicious of giving too much power to its governments.

 

The trades unions were pleased with these changes but Lloyd George was determined that they too should make concessions. He used his powers to limit the influence of the unions and insisted on acceptance of 'dilution' by the workers. This meant that the skilled workers had to accept that semi-skilled and even unskilled workers could do some of the work normally only done by skilled workers. (These rules had been introduced before the war to make sure there were more jobs to go round for skilled workers.) Output increased.

 

The biggest change brought about by Lloyd George was the employment of women in large numbers in the munitions factories - 212,000 in 1914 but 950,000 in 1918. The male workers were well paid and women's wages (though less than those of the men) were far higher than the pay they were used to as servants in the homes of the wealthy.

 

The trade union leaders were persuaded to agree with all these changes but often the workers on the shop floor were angry and saw their jobs as under threat. They elected their own representatives to put their case to the government and even their own union leaders. These representatives were called shop stewards and they have been a feature of industrial life ever since. Unlike the official trade union leaders, shop stewards were not full time representatives. They worked shifts just like the men they represented and could be replaced immediately if they lost the support of their fellow workers.

 

Neil Demarco: Britain and the Great War; Oxford University Press, 1992/2000, page 35 f.