A Trade Union Centenary The Boilermakers' Society, which celebrates its
cen- tenary this month, has a very interesting record as a craft trade union. It was started in the days of wooden ships,. while the Shipwrights' Union, naturally enough, was a society of woodworkers. When iron ships were started, the rivetting and constructional work used in making boilers had to be used in making the ships themselves ; and so the Boilermakers' Society evolved into the trade union of the skilled men employed in building iron (and later, steel) vessels. As such, it held a commanding position before and during the War, when both commercial and naval shipbuilding were of so much consequence to the country. Today, with the slump in both, it has fallen on hard times. It bears its full share in the tragedies of Tyne and Wear and Clyde. Its membership has been halved, and more than a third of their number are unemployed. Devices like the pneumatic rivetter and electric welding have added to their sorrows. But they are a fine body of men, among the most " upstanding " in the country ; and the union, which has carried their flag through bright days and dark, has, on the whole, deserved well of them.
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