Birmingham Trade Union Resource Centre (TURC) was established in 1982 and was one of a number of such centres across the UK. TURC focused on issues associated with working life in the 1980s and 1990s and this extended to un/employment, rights, issues of discrimination, privatisation, poverty, trade unionism, environment, health, international and cultural issues, media, youth, sexuality, gender, national and local government policies. 

The papers illustrate the breadth of TURC's campaigning and provide an insight to the practicalities of establishing and maintaining an independent resource facility for trades unionists and campaigners. The collection covers industrial relations activities including union negotiations with employers, strikes and other industrial disputes. As well as supporting specific disputes such as the 1984 Miners’ Strike, they also supported more general campaigns on health and safety legislation, against the privatisation of public sector services, and anti-sexism and anti-racism in training schemes and in the workplace. 

TURC was concerned with women’s issues and the interests of minority groups and the records also reflect this. For example, in 1985 TURC supported an information campaign to counter biased reporting of the events surrounding the Handsworth disturbances, and campaigns against the Prevention of Terrorism Act and restrictive immigration and asylum legislation were also supported. TURCs concern for social justice was not restricted to Britain and it developed links with trades unionists and campaigners around the world, such as offering support and solidarity to the Mayor of Bluewater in Nicaragua and exposing investment and support for Apartheid South Africa by West Midland companies.

TURC was integrated into the local labour movement, but also developed and maintained links with a range of campaigning groups and individuals and information about these can be found in the TURC archive. One of the reasons why this collection will be of value to researchers is that archive sources for many of these individuals, campaign groups and community based organisations are hard to find or often do not survive at all. The collection provides an invaluable glimpse of the activities of the labour movement and of local political campaigns during a period of profound social, economic and political change.

A detailed catalogue of this collection is available in Birmingham City Archives, collection reference MS 2009, along with a catalogue of the related papers of Paul Mackney, collection reference MS 1591.

You can also download pdf versions of the catalogues below:

Birmingham Trade Union Resource Centre - MS 2009

Papers of Paul Mackney - MS 1591