State Social Reform 787The Trade Union Movement
The trade union movement grew rapidly in Western Europe, above all among
male skilled workers. The goals of unions were to raise wages and improve
conditions, while increasing the number of members. By 1914, 3 mil
lion workers had joined unions in Britain, 1.5 million in Germany, and 1
million in Italy. The number of white-collar unions also increased, such as
those organizing schoolteachers and postal clerks. In 1913, there were more
than 400,000 union members in Austria, a country of only 6 million inhabi
tants. French unions proliferated after they were legalized in 1884. In 1895,
French unions formed the General Confederation of Labor (C.G.T.), with
the goal of unifying the trade union movement. The C.G.T., to which about
a third of French unions belonged, renounced participation in politics and
espoused revolutionary principles. Union membership in France reached 2.6
million in 1914. May Day demonstrations and festivals, with red flags flying,
vigorous political debates, consumer cooperatives, and informal networks
provided by factory work and cafes, also helped maintain solidarity among
workers.
However, most European workers did not belong to unions, although many
supported strikes and believed in union goals. The 1875 Trade Union Act
ended many limitations on unions in Britain, but by the turn of the century
only about 25 percent of British workers were organized, 10 percent were
in France, and even less in Italy. Several factors limited the expansion of
union membership. Considerable gaps remained between the work experi
ence, salary, organizations, and expectations of skilled and unskilled workers.
Many workers moved from place to place, following employment opportuni
ties. Those with urban roots were far more easily organized than recently
arrived migrants from smaller towns or villages. Differences and tensions
between workers of different national groups also served to divide workers,
such as between Irish and English workers in London, German and Czech
workers in Prague, or Belgian and French workers in northern France.
The union organization of female workers lagged far behind that of men.
Women made up 30 percent of the British labor force, but only about 7 per
cent of union members. Almost all female workers were relegated to rela
tively unskilled and low-paying jobs and confronted chronic vulnerability to
being dismissed. Most women worked in unskilled jobs, such as making
boxes, knotting fish nets, making buttonholes, and doing food-processing
work. Furthermore, many male workers refused to accept women as equals
and claimed that they were taking jobs away from men (a French union that
admitted women as members included the following regulation: “Women
may address observations on propositions to the union only in writing and by
the intermediation of two male members”). Women also had to take respon
sibility for their children, something male union members often failed to
recognize. Yet women workers also struck in the face of tougher working con
ditions, low wages, and, occasionally, sexual harassment.