Trades Union Congress (TUC)

National organization of British labour unions. It was founded in 1868 to hold annual conferences of independent unions. It included only skilled workers until 1889, when unions of unskilled workers were admitted. In 1900 the TUC helped found a separate labour organization, the Labour Representation Committee, renamed the Labour Party in 1906. After World War I the TUC was governed by a General Council, which had powers to deal with interunion conflicts and intervene in disputes with employers. In the 1930s and '40s, it was the spokesman for industrial labour in dealings with the government. The organization continued to help formulate economic policy until 1979, when a Conservative government came to power, leading to a decline in TUC membership in the 1980s. In the late 1990s, under Labour prime minister Tony Blair, the TUC was encouraged to back “workplace partnerships” between unions and employers.

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