David Holmes (16 November 1843 - 14 January 1906) was a member of the British trade union.
Born in Manchester, Holmes worked as a weaver since the age of eight. When he was ten years old, he ran away from home to live with an uncle in Padiham. He continued to weave but also received an education in the local Unitarian capitals.
In the early 1860s, Holmes was married and the couple moved to Burnley. There, he was a founding member of the Burnley Weavers' Association. In 1871, he was elected president and served until his death. He focused his activities on promoting collective bargaining for wages; he opposes the eight-hour day and supports child labor, as he believes that they are contributing to the comparative advantage of weavers against workers elsewhere.
Although moderated, he was blacklisted by employers and instead took a job as a poor man to support his family, in addition to his union role. In 1878, he led a union in a large-scale strike in an unsuccessful area. That led, in 1884, to the creation of the Association of North Amalgamated Weavers Association, with Holmes as president.
Holmes is a member of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), where he opposes the new union, which organizes unskilled workers, and attends various international conferences representing the organization.
Politically, Holmes is a Liberal Party supporter, and he is in charge of the Burnley Town Council. He is the opposite of socialism and the Labor Party when it arises. However, his appointed governor and successor, David Shackleton, will join the Labor Party.
Holmes withdrew from TUC in 1902 and became less active elsewhere.
Video David Holmes (trade unionist)
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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