Volume Eight - Pre-Victorian to the present day - more aspects - Cardiff, Penarth and Barry Coaltrimmers' Union . . .

◊ 1911 - Seamen's Strike - In relation to the seamen's strike the Welsh Journal 'Morgannwg' concludes in an article: 'Captain Tupper and the 1911 seamen's strike in Cardiff' (Vol. 14 - 1970):-

'The reluctance of the trimmers to join the seamen can be seen from the minutes of Cardiff, Penarth and Barry Coal Trimmers Union. The trimmers were a local union, with effective control over the coal-trimming trade and earning very high wages.

A Cardiff correspondent writing to the Webbs in the 1890's mentions them as a union which suited the coal owners and employers. They contracted to trim ships, and disliked strikes, preferring instead to take recalcitrant employers to the County Court.

The minutes of the Coal Trimmers Executive Meeting for 24 June 1911, ten days after the Seamen's strike began, do not mention the strike at all. Money was voted to members out of the Benevolent Cardiff Trades and Labour Council. The minute books of the Coal Trimmers are a complete set from the formation of the union in 1888 and ending with their incorporation in the T. & T. W. in 1968.' [077]

◊ 1925 - The Decline in the Coal Trade - Coal Trimmers' Proposals - The earnings of the coal trimmers are pooled, but in view of the considerably reduced shipments of coal at local ports, it follows that the remuneration of the workmen has suffered to a fairly substantial extent during the past year or more. There is no doubt that many of these workmen sigh for the days of old, when trimmers belonged to private gangs, and were employed direct by the various colliery undertakings and incidentally drew the whole of the money they earned.

Nowadays their earnings are pooled and there is a big difference. Undoubtedly, this accounts for the proposal put before the Cardiff, Penarth and Barry Coal Trimmers' Union that the number of the men should be reduced in view of the slump in trade. According to the President of the Union, the proposal emanates from only a small section of the workmen, and he describes the proposal to put off 300 or 400 workmen as nothing short of criminal, as it would require action affecting that number of men to affect appreciably the earnings of the workmen who would be retained. The Engineer [015] [016] 16th October 1925.

The Minute Books 1888-1949 plus Miscellaneous Printed Material 1910-1966 are today (2016) held at Swansea University Archives (reference: GB 217 SWCC : MNA/TUG/1)