1940 - 1944

Management Committee Minutes 11 September 1940
"The Secretary reported that a letter had been received from the St. Pancras Borough Council in connection with the Government's scheme for the provision of additional Public Aid Raid Shelter accommodation. The (Central House) shelter was already being used for sleeping by a number of the staff who had either been bombed out of their homes, or whose travelling facilities had been made very difficult, and also by the tenants of the Federation and residents of adjacent buildings. The numbers of the staff had already been increased and it was anticipated that in the very near future, the shelter would be required to accommodate the staffs of those Government Offices who would be working on shifts through a 24-hour day."

President John Lee (Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen) to GCM Llandudno 1941
"With respect to the properties owned by the Federation, I am pleased to report, at the time of drafting these notes, that although they are situated in an area where considerable damage has been done to surrounding properties, Central House and the remainder of the property have escaped all but superficial damage, for which we are very thankful."

E.A.Hinks (National Gas Fitters' & Allied Workers' Union) to GCM July 1941
"I come from Birmingham which is a bombed area, and I have probably a little bit more knowledge of bombing than some of the delegates. Only last week, on Friday, a matter of five minutes from my own home, houses were smashed up during a raid. Our members were called upon to go out during the night to deal with incidents, gas leakages and severed pipes. I had a case reported to me not long ago in which our members were placed in this position: they were supposed to be doing fire watching in addition to their normal emergency service jobs. The result was that when an 'incident' occurred the man in charge sent the people out on normal emergency work who were supposed to be doing firewatching.

"President A Taylor (Rossendale Union of Boot, Shoe and Slipper Operatives) to GCM Morecambe July 1944
Are trade unions still necessary as a fighting force? - Emphatically YES. Originally, they were necessary because of the conflict between the aims of an employer and his employees. This conflict was limited to comparatively small groups. Now, huge international combines have developed, challenging the workers of the world. To meet this new situation, we must organise on an international basis. We must use every means of bringing the world's workers closer together...Another danger from within is that strange anomaly, the Tory working man. He seems to believe that by a divine order the rich were created rich, and the poor, poor; and that so it should always be. The rich have become rich by no divine power, but simply by using, to their own advantage, their less opportunist and more scrupulous neighbours.