National Committee of Organised Labour

Last updated

The National Committee of Organised Labour for Promoting Old Age Pensions for All, often shortened to National Committee of Organised Labour, was a British campaign group established at the end of the nineteenth century which sought the introduction of a general-tax funded old-age pension. The campaign succeeded with the introduction of the Old Age Pensions Act 1908.

Contents

Origins

Poverty in old age was, in the late 19th century, widely recognised by social reformers as a problem capable of solution. Canon W. L. Blackley, sometime Rector of North Waltham and of King's Somborne, had called for a sick-pay and pensions system based on national insurance contributions in 1878. From 1885 Charles Booth's work had provided insight into the poverty of old age. Trade unions, friendly societies, and individuals such as Joseph Chamberlain, Samuel Barnett, George Cadbury and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree involved themselves in the issue. [1]

A catalyst for concerted action was the passing, in New Zealand, of the Old-age Pensions Act, 1898, which provided means-tested benefits for aged people 'of good character'. [2] [3]

Francis Herbert Stead, warden of Browning Hall and an active campaigner for social reform, invited William Pember Reeves, the New Zealand Agent General in London to speak on a number of occasions at address Browning Hall, culminating in a conference on the subject held at the hall in December 1898 attended by friendly societies, trade unionists, and addressed by Charles Booth, amongst others. Regional meetings across the country were held in the months immediately following, and by May 1899 the National Committee of Organised Labour was formed to lead and coordinate a campaign. [3] [4]

Organisation

Stead was appointed honorary secretary, and in July 1900 Frederick Booth was appointed Organising Secretary. Stead and Rogers dedicated a decade of work, writing pamphlets and books, lobbying parliament and religious leaders, and travelling the length of the country to speak for the cause. The campaign won the backing of concerned groups including the Trades Union Congress, the Labour Party Conference, and the Co-operative Congress, as well as by Friendly Societies. [3] [4] [5]

The campaign was ended after the passing of the 1908 act, Stead going on to campaign for the provision of old-aged homes. [3]

Related Research Articles

Clara Collet was an economist and British civil servant. She was one of the first women graduates from the University of London and was pivotal in many reforms which greatly improved working conditions and pay for women during the early part of the twentieth century. She is also noted for the collection of statistical and descriptive evidence on the life of working women and poor people in London and elsewhere in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Crooks</span>

William Crooks was a noted trade unionist and politician from Poplar, London, and a member of the Fabian Society. He is particularly remembered for his campaigning work against poverty and inequality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Booth (social reformer)</span> British social researcher and philanthropist

Charles James Booth was a British shipowner, Comtean positivist, social researcher, and reformer, best known for his innovative philanthropic studies on working-class life in London towards the end of the 19th century.

The Independent Political Labour League (IPLL) was a small New Zealand political party. It was the second organised political party to win a seat in the House of Representatives, and was a forerunner of the modern Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Pember Reeves</span> New Zealand politician

William Pember Reeves was a New Zealand politician, cricketer, historian and poet who promoted social reform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret McMillan</span>

Margaret McMillan was a nursery school pioneer and lobbied for the 1906 Provision of School Meals Act. Working in deprived districts of London, notably Deptford, and Bradford, she agitated for reforms to improve the health of young children, wrote several books on nursery education and pioneered a play-centred approach that has only latterly found wide acceptance.

Southwark and Bermondsey was an inner city constituency in London, United Kingdom. Its sole Member of Parliament was Simon Hughes, in the first stage of his career in the house, as a Liberal then Liberal Democrat after the party's founding in 1988. It was replaced with the North Southwark and Bermondsey seat in 1997.

Social welfare has long been an important part of New Zealand society and a significant political issue. It is concerned with the provision by the state of benefits and services. Together with fiscal welfare and occupational welfare, it makes up the social policy of New Zealand. Social welfare is mostly funded through general taxation. Since the 1980s welfare has been provided on the basis of need; the exception is universal superannuation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal welfare reforms</span> Welfare state

The Liberal welfare reforms (1906–1914) were a series of acts of social legislation passed by the Liberal Party after the 1906 general election. They represent the emergence of the modern welfare state in the United Kingdom. The reforms demonstrate the split that had emerged within liberalism, between emerging social liberalism and classical liberalism, and a change in direction for the Liberal Party from laissez-faire traditional liberalism to a party advocating a larger, more active government protecting the welfare of its citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal Government of New Zealand</span>

The Liberal Government of New Zealand was the first responsible government in New Zealand politics organised along party lines. The government formed following the founding of the Liberal Party and took office on 24 January 1891, and governed New Zealand for over 21 years until 10 July 1912. To date, it is the longest-serving government in New Zealand's history. The government was also historically notable for enacting significant social and economic changes, such as the Old Age Pensions Act and women's suffrage. One historian described the policies of the government as "a revolution in the relationship between the government and the people".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal government, 1905–1915</span>

The Liberal government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that began in 1905 and ended in 1915 consisted of two ministries: the first led by Henry Campbell-Bannerman and the final three by H. H. Asquith.

Thomas Mackay was a British wine merchant and classical liberal.

The Social Security Act 1938 is a New Zealand Act of Parliament concerning unemployment insurance which established New Zealand as a welfare state. This act is important in the history of social welfare, as it established the first ever social security system in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Scott</span> Chamberlain of the City of London

Benjamin ScottFRAS served as the Chamberlain of London from 1858 until his death. As well as an enduring figure in the life of the city, he was also a committed social activist of the age, collaborating with people such as Josephine Butler and W. T. Stead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Rogers (bookbinder)</span>

Frederick Rogers was an English bookbinder, trades unionist, writer and journalist. He is notable as first chairman of the Labour Representation Committee, the organisation to which the Labour Party traces its origins, as well as for a lifetime of work dedicated to educational improvement for the working class, and to the introduction of a general tax-funded system of old-age pensions.

The Vellum Binders' Trade Society was a British trade union formed in 1823, and with a tiny membership representing a small fraction of bookbinders.

Francis Herbert Stead, commonly cited as F. H. Stead, was a British social reformer notable for the establishment of Browning Hall in London, 1895, and for his work on the National Committee of Organised Labour which waged a decade-long campaign for the introduction of a general tax-funded system of old-age pensions from 1899.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Browning Hall</span> Social settlement house in inner London

Browning Hall, properly The Robert Browning Settlement, was a social settlement established in Walworth, London, in 1895, one of a number of such 'settlements' arising out of the settlement movement and the university extension movement. It provided a range of social services to the poor of its deprived area, and provided accommodation enabling relatively well-educated people to live amongst the people with whom they worked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labour Unity Conferences</span>

In April 1912 and July 1913, two "unity conferences" were held to discuss and determine the future of organised labour in New Zealand. The events mainly centred around the debate over whether industrial action or political activity should be the means of achieving the aims of workers and additionally to unite the "moderate" and "militant" factions within the labour movement. Whilst neither conference fully unified the labour movement, it laid a framework of co-operation that would later assist during the creation of the current New Zealand Labour Party in 1916.

References

  1. "pensions campaigning". The Pensions Archive. The Pensions Archive Trust.
  2. "Old-age Pensions Act becomes law - 1 November 1898". New Zealand History. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Mark K (2008). "Frances Herbert Stead, Robert Browning Hall and the fight for old age pensions". the encyclopaedia of informal education. YMCA George Williams College.
  4. 1 2 "A brief history of the Pensioners Movement". Pension 100. Archived from the original on 2010-06-08. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  5. Finch, Harold (1992). "Frederick Rogers: Bookbinder and Journalist" (PDF). East London Record. East London History Society (15): 13. Retrieved 25 July 2016.