Trade Unions came into being when workers realised that joint action gave them more power when they asked for better pay and working conditions. By the end of the eighteenth century it was the skilled craft workers such as shipwrights, printers and tin plate workers who came together in trade associations.
Former gallery displays included Liverpool tin plate workers' 'Society' banner - the oldest surviving branch banner in Britain, possibly dating from 1821.
By the end of the nineteenth century a growing number of unskilled workers, such as dockers, seamstresses, gas and postal workers, began to form unions. It was particularly difficult for dock workers to form a trade union, as the casual nature of their work made it difficult to bring people together.
In 1889 a National Union of Dock Labourers was formed in Glasgow and soon had branches in Liverpool. Jim Larkin was one of the more colourful leaders of the Dockers' Union and a great public speaker. Born in Liverpool of Irish parents in 1876, he later moved to Ireland where he set up the Irish Transport and General Workers Union.
Displays included banners, photographs and artefacts relating to the history of trade unions.