WHEN Jack Thomas arrived in Oxford in 1937, he knew no-one, he had no office, no transport, not even a bed for the night.

He had travelled from his native Wales to become Oxford district secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, the city’s first full-time trade union official.

Trade unionism in Oxford was still in its infancy, and he faced the daunting challenge of pulling together the small, scattered units of the union as well as persuading openly antagonistic employers that trade unionism was here to stay.

Oxford Mail:

 Jack Thomas, left, with the Public Orator, Mr A N Bryan-Brown, when he received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Oxford University at the Sheldonian Theatre in 1964

He had left school at 12½ and his first job was with the Taff Vale Railway, jotting down numbers of wagons. At 13½, he was working alongside his father at the coal face at Aberaman Colliery.

Memory Lane this week

At 19, he became chairman of the local miners’ lodge (union branch) and soon after his election, a series of strikes spread through the valley. As strike leader, he lost his job.

He later recalled: “I didn’t mind being victimised. What angered me was that my father, 50 years a miner, and my brother were sacked because of the part I played in the strike. Employers could be pretty vindictive then.

“If an employer sacked you for trade union activity, your picture was posted at all the pitheads in the valley, and you didn’t stand a chance of getting work.”

Eventually, he got a job with Swansea Corporation, but trade union activity was beginning to loom large in his life.

In 1925, he went to Scarborough as a delegate at the first conference of the TGWU, formed by the amalgamation of a host of small unions and later to become the biggest in Britain.

When he arrived in Oxford in 1937, he didn’t know what to expect – he had never been to the city.

He said: “The regional secretary from Birmingham took me to see three branch secretaries. One was Billy Edwards, secretary of the Corporation and Co-operative branch. His wife said: ‘Why not stay here?’ So there I stayed until I could get a house and be joined by my family.

“What I found appalling when I came was that employers would not even recognise trade unions. Some gave me the impression that I was a new type of animal they had never seen before.

“My first job was to win trade union recognition – from the workers, to whom it was comparatively new, as well as the employers.”

After his experience in the Welsh valleys and his initial struggles in Oxford, he might have been excused for feeling bitter and holding grudges, but that was never the case.

In the car factories at Cowley, well known for disputes, he earned the nickname of ‘Back-to-work Jack’.

He explained: “That is because I have always believed that having arrived at an agreement, we should stand by it.

“I know first-hand what hardships arise from strikes and the effects they have on family life. They do not attract me in the slightest. But when employers break agreements, then a strike may be necessary.”

Mr Thomas led a busy life. Apart from his trade union work, he served as a magistrate and city councillor, was a member of numerous boards, trusts and committees, a keen rugby and cricket fan and a devoted family man – he and his wife Doreen had three children.

He received the MBE in 1949 and in 1964, was honoured by Oxford University with the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

At a ceremony at the Sheldonian Theatre, the University’s Public Orator, Mr A N Bryan-Brown, spoke about how Mr Thomas had won over workers and employers with his “friendliness, wisdom and sincerity” and how he had constantly emphasised that “disputes should not be exacerbated by ill-considered strikes or lockouts, but settled by fair and free discussion”.

In retirement, Mr Thomas, who lived in St Omer Road, Cowley, remained in the public eye as a prominent campaigner for pensioners’ rights. He died aged 87 in 1987.

Any memories of Jack Thomas to share with readers? Write and let me know.

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