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Clerical Workers (APEX)
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This list indexes cassette tapes, transcripts and other material collected by Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, and their Research Assistant, Sid Richards, in the course of research for Marsh and Ryan's study, 'The Clerks', (Malthouse P., 1997). The abbreviations, AM, SR and VR are used to indicate interviewers. Most of Sid Richards' interviews cannot be dated precisely but he was only employed in the early years of the research project, 1973/4. Some interviews are on more than one tape - e.g. the interview with Bernard Bagnari starts on tape 43 and finishes on tape 1, and this is indicated as 'tapes 43/1'. This file does not include letters to Arthur Marsh commenting on draft chapters of the study. These are in a separate file of correspondence concerning the publication itself.
Tape 56 (AM,SR) (18 Ap 74) + transcript Joint discussion with H.Walker, A. Godwin, D.Rhydderch, D.Currie
Allen, Albert Edward Photocopy from 'Clerk'
Davy, R. (Doncaster) Tape 5(SR) (no transcript found)
Edwards, Ray Tape 59(SR) + transcript
Fletcher, Ted Tape 59(SR) + transcript
Gibson, Arthur Lummis Notes
Hall, A.B. Notes
Latham, Charles Notes
McKinlay, Edith Tape 27(VR) (18 Jun 75) + transcript; autobiographical letter
Norrish, Harry Tape 73(SR) + transcript
Radclyffe, F.G.P. Application for TUC Gold Badge
Salt, George Application for TUC Gold Badge
Taylor, Thomas (Lord Taylor of Gryfe) Tape 33(AM,VR) (30 Jan 75) + transcript; notes
Vickers, Sid Tapes 37(AM,VR) (2 Dec 76 + transcript), 66 (SR) Walkden, Alexander George Notes
Correspondence relating to Arthur Marsh & Victoria Ryan's 'The Clerks' Arthur Marsh was the lead author of this study of the clerical workers union, APEX, and its predecessors. The research was launched early in 1973 with the aid of a paid Research Assistant, Sid Richards, who in May 1974 left the project to take up a post with NALGO. Richards was replaced then by Marsh's co-author, Victoria Ryan, although there is some evidence that she may have already done work on the project before her involvement became official. Vicky Ryan was a former member of the union. Publication was originally intended to be completed within three or four years. The plan was that this would be funded and sponsored by the union. The union certainly subsidised the early work. After a cordial and cooperative start, relationships between the researchers and the union broke down. This file gives some insight into the reasons for this, the consequence being that the book was not published until 1997, by which time APEX had been absorbed into the GMB. In the end the book was published by Arthur Marsh's own imprint, Malthouse Press, and did not have GMB sponsorship. This file is organised in a single sequence in date order, with a small number of undated items at the end. It starts on 19th February 1973 with a letter to Arthur Marsh from Roy Grantham, the APEX General Secretary. There are many letters between Grantham and Marsh, and between Grantham and other officials of the union, including Area Secretaries. These are particularly prominent in the first two years of the research, at the time when interviews with present and past luminaries were taking place. A second phase of this kind of correspondence is evident from 1976 onwards, when draft chapters of the book were being circulated with a request for comments. In the majority of cases, this communication was coordinated through the union's central office rather than directly with Marsh and Ryan. Retired officials were at least a partial exception, particularly in the case of Dame Anne Godwin, with whom Marsh communicated independently. Her involvement dated back well before World War Two, and to the formerly independent Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries. In addition to union officials, Arthur Marsh corresponded with others who had relevant insights - Lord Citrine and Lionel Murray of the TUC, Dame Margaret Cole on the Guild Socialism issue, officials of other unions including the National Union of Mineworkers and USDAW, and fellow academics, notably John Saville, Ben Roberts, and Eric Wigham. Correspondence with prospective publishers forms another category, from March 1976 onwards. Initially Basil Blackwell and Bachman & Turner were the firms in the frame, with the latter eventually selected. By November 1978, however, objections to the later chapters were beginning to appear within the union, and by July 1979 a head of steam had developed behind the idea that the postwar chapters should be done by another author. Marsh and Ryan reluctantly agreed to this, while insisting the copyright of the earlier chapters remained with them. In 1980 Robert Taylor, a journalist, was commissioned to write the last three chapters, and these were completed (but never used) in February 1984. These events had serious contractual implications. In March 1980 Blackwell Press Ltd took over the publishing interest from Bachman & Turner, to safeguard the printing interest of its subsidiary, Billing & Sons. Arthur Marsh consulted his own solicitors and also the General Secretary of his own union, Laurie Sapper of the Association of University Teachers. The correspondence gives some insight into the thoughts and motivations of the researchers and the union, although it is by no means clear why APEX took so long to make a final decision, and why that decision, in August 1987, was not to support publication, even of the revised work with Taylor's new chapters incorporated. After the absorption of APEX into the GMB, Marsh raised the matter with John Edmonds, GMB's General Secretary. Some of the early correspondence with Edmonds seems to make it clear that the latter assumed the issue at stake was the treatment of the Grunwick dispute, and the risk of being sued for libel or defamation. Edmonds expresses surprise that the relevant chapter appears to him relatively uncontentious. Subsequently, however, after consultation within the union, he decides that he cannot support publication, which would mean a reversal of the decision of APEX's Executive Council. To protect themselves, Marsh and Ryan, took legal advice in 1996 on the Grunwick issue. Their solicitors found there was nothing to justify any legal challenge, and on this basis they decided to publish under the Malthouse imprint. Correspondence during 1996 also makes it clear that there was a substantial body of opinion within former members of the union that in blocking publication the Executive Council had behaved inappropriately and without justification, and that the real reasons did not lie in the Grunwick issue. Leading lights in this campaign of support for publication were Lord Denis Howell, and a former Midland area official, Frank Leath, who at this stage provided a considerable amount of information for the biographical appendix published within the book. Finally, one should mention correspondence which occurred after Arthur Marsh's death indicating the process by which this material came (with APEX's own archives) to the Working Class Movement Library.
A red bound volume probably dating from the late1980s containing proof chapters by Marsh and Ryan and also the unused chapters supplied by Robert Taylor in 1984. Some chapters are annotated, and there were also subsequent amendments for the final publication, which brought the history up to the amalgamation of APEX within the GMB. The Taylor chapters are not in the public domain, and supply a detailed perspective on issues and events in the history of APEX during the 1970s and 1980s. Contents Marsh & Ryan chapters
Box files File One 1) Proofs of Marsh and Ryan chapters accompanied by letter from Roy Grantham to Executive Council and National Officials dated 21 June 1979 stating "It does not seem to me this history does proper credit to the Union and I am pressing Arthur Marsh to write two more paragraphs [sic? 'chapters'?] on issues such as equal pay, pensions and other matters. However even so I think the tone of the book is unfavourable and I would like to discuss the matter with the Executive Council at its next meeting to see whether we should ask someone else to take over the writing of the second half of the history covering the post war years". 2) Typescripts of Marsh and Ryan chapters 1-7. File Two 1) Revised version of Marsh and Ryan chapter 7, accompanied by letter from Vicky Ryan to Roy Grantham dated 24 Oct 1979, stating "I enclose the last chapter restructured in the light of the very helpful suggestions made by yourself and others, and greater emphasis has been given to the very individual role the Union has played in the trade union movement". 2) Copy of [EC?] Minute dated 1983 stating that Robert Taylor is continuing Arthur Marsh's draft and that the final draft will be available during 1984. 3) Drafts of Taylor chapters 6, 7, 9. 4) Letter dated 17 May 1984 from Grantham to Marsh accompanied by section of Taylor chapter 9, stating "I am enclosing herewith the pages of chapter ix on the finance of the Union, edited in order to improve them". 5) Copy of [EC?] minute dated 1984 stating "The Executive Council considered the revised history produced by Arthur Marsh and Robert Taylor against the background of the soaring costs of publication and the prospect of selling an adequate number, having regard to the future development of the Union. They decided not to pursue publication at present but to keep the draft history as a record for the future". 6) Folder of photographs collected but mostly not used in the final publication. Contains group and individual photos as well as records of important events - picketing at Grunwick, the BEA West London air terminal strike, the equal pay campaign at Salford Electrical Instruments (part of GEC), and the 'Buy British cars campaign'. It also contains a 1938 photo of the room provided by the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries for unemployed members. |
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