Frank Cousins ​​(politician, 1904)

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Frank Cousins , PC (* 8. September 1904 in Bulwell , Nottinghamshire , † 11. June 1986 ) was a British trade union functionary and politician of the Labor Party , among others 1956-1969 General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) 1964 to 1966 technology Minister, and from 1965 to 1966 deputy of the lower house ( House of Commons ) was.

Life

Miner and union official

Frank Cousins, son of a miner, began after school at the age of fourteen in 1918 as a worker in a mine and later as a truck driver, before he became a full-time union official in 1938. As the successor to Jock Tiffin , he was first Vice-Secretary General in 1955 and then on January 2, 1956 again as the successor to Jock Tiffin General Secretary of the TGWU (Transport and General Workers Union) . He held this position until September 1969, when James "James" Larkin Jones was his successor. As TGWU general secretary, he played a controversial role in the seven-week strike by the London bus drivers in 1958, which, according to political observers, led to a massive loss of votes for the Labor Party in the general election on October 8, 1959 . The Labor Party received 12,216,172 votes (43.9 percent) and lost 2.5 percentage points as well as 19 of the 277 lower house deputies compared to the election of May 26, 1955 . Despite critical voices from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the umbrella organization of the trade unions, and the Labor Party, he spoke out on behalf of his union for a unilateral policy of nuclear disarmament.

In 1958, Cousins ​​also succeeded Hans Jahn as the International Transport Workers' Federation ITF and remained in this position until 1960, when Roger Dekeyzer became his successor. At the same time, he acted in 1959 as a representative of the TUC at the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations AFL-CIO, the US trade union umbrella organization. In 1962 he took over from Roger Dekeyzer as president of the ITF and held this office until he was replaced by Hans Düby in 1965.

Technology Minister and Member of the House of Commons

After the Labor Party's victory in the general election on October 15, 1964 , Frank Cousins ​​was appointed by Prime Minister Harold Wilson on October 18, 1964 as Minister of Technology in his first cabinet . On 19 October 1964, he was also a member of the Secret Privy Council ( Privy Council ) . In a by-election (by-election) , he was also on January 21, 1965 to the Labor Party in the constituency Nuneaton to deputies of the lower house ( House of Commons ) selected. He was able to prevail with 18,325 votes (48.92 percent) against his opponent from the Conservative Party David S. Marland, who received 13,084 votes (34.93 percent). In the subsequent general election on March 31, 1966 , he was re-elected in the Nuneaton constituency with 27,452 votes (53.98 percent), while David S. Marland got 16,049 votes (31.56 percent) this time.

On July 4, 1966, Cousins ​​resigned as technology minister in protest against Wilson's government-backed legislation to freeze incomes and prices, and was replaced by Tony Benn . On December 5, 1966, he also resigned his House of Commons mandate, whereupon the 25-year-old Labor candidate Les Huckfield was elected as his successor in a by-election on March 9, 1967. He then returned to his role as General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, which was one of the most influential unions during his tenure with 1.25 million members. He saw strikes as a last resort and helped avoid imminent strikes by shipyard workers in Southampton and truck drivers who supplied fruit and vegetables to London markets. He was most recently chairman of the Community Relations Commission between 1968 and 1970 , which was set up under the Race Relations Act 1968 to improve relationships between races, religions and beliefs. In September 1969 he stepped down as TGWU general secretary and lived in Chesterfield until his death .

Web links

Background literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Transport and General Workers Union: General Secretaries (rulers.org)
  2. ↑ PRIVY COUNSELLORS 1915 - 1968 (leighrayment.com)
personal data
SURNAME Cousins, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Labor Party politician, Member of the House of Commons and union official
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Bulwell , Nottinghamshire
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 1986