TRIBUTE TO JACK JONES TGWU Gen Secr

JACK JONES ONE OF THE GREATEST UNIONISTS
AND POLITICIANS   

James Larkin Jones was born on 29 March, 1913 and died on 21 April 2009. He was born in Garston, Liverpool, Lancashire.

He was known as Jack Jones an outstanding unionist.  A British trade unionist leader and General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union,

He left school at the age of 14 and worked as an engineering apprentice. He lost his job because of the Wall Street Crash. After working for a firm producing sign posts he joined his father as a Liverpool docker.

Jack Jones became a socialist when he read the “The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists” by Robert Tressell. He told later that the book was passed from hand to hand in the Labour movement.

He joined the Transport and General Workers Union and was elected as a shop steward; then a delegate of the National Docks Group Committee.

He was strongly against British Union of Fascists, leader Oswald Mosley. Mr Jones held meetings against it and was beaten up by Blackshirts with knuckle-dusters.

Jack Jones joined the Territorial Army in 1934 and rose to bombardier in the Royal Artillery.

In 1936 at the Spanish Civil War he served with the British Battalion of the XV International Brigade as the political commissar of the Major Attlee Company and was seriously wounded at the Battle at the Ebro in 1938.

On his return he became a member of the TGWU full time and fought for industrial democracy like a wild cat.

After the Second World War he fought, as union leader, workers exploitation. All the benefits we take now for granted Jack Jones fought a bitter battle. He fought for the rights like weekend, paid holidays and sickness benefits. It is amazing how quickly we forget who fought and won for the workers.

Jack Jones fought with such ferocity that he was once named as the Most Powerful Man in Britain.

Yet, looking back we noticed that the people have forgotten what it was like before Jack Jones killed all those evil rules but it all comes back with vengeance.  The saying to learn from history is never done. 

Inequality - at its widest since 1930 - the report by Credit Suisse showed the 1 percent on the top owe half of the world wealth.

Fascism – Cameron called the refugees “swarm” and Theresa May said: “It is impossible to build a cohesive society”. It is remarks and outlooks like these which led to fascism, Nazis and other dictatorships.

1938 at Evian conference Britain, Australia, and the USA decided to refuse high numbers of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism with the reason it would destabilize their societies.

Workers Exploitation – the latest Trade Union Bill is blatant attempt to reverse all those hard-won rights and turn Britain into zero-hours, minimum wage economy. It serves the multi-international companies to sky-rocket their profits and at the same time pays as little as possible tax.

Pension – a recent survey showed that British Old Age Pensioners have the 24^th worst state pension out of the work’s 34 richest nations.

Jack Jones when retired, after refusing to be knighted and join the House of Lords, he devoted his last years to fight the poverty of pensioner.

Jack Jones must be turning in his grave if he knows what is going on. With Jeremy Corbyn the Labour Party has now another Jack Jones if only the MPs would all work together and not have their silly little digs. They only serve the Tories to win every time they put up a bill and the Tories are laughing up their sleeves about Labour.

It is incredible that there was no free weekend, no paid holidays and no paid sickness benefits. So do not let it all go back again and make no mistake the ruthless Tories will. Have they not already introduced Zero-Hour-contracts?  In other word, if an employer does not call you up there is not pay. Many stated they were called and when they got there, there was no work. That is how they already treat workers.

Stand together Labour MPs or the Tories will win another election.