Early career and Trade Union activities
Thomas was born in
Newport, Monmouthshire, the
illegitimate son of a young unmarried mother. He was raised by his grandmother and began work at twelve years of age, soon starting a career as a railway worker. He became an official of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants and, in
1913, helped organize the
National Union of Railwaymen (NUR, now part of the
RMT) from the amalgamation of several smaller unions. Thomas became its
general secretary in
1917 and presided over the successful rail strike of
1919. In 1921, Thomas played a leading role in the
Black Friday crisis, in which rail and
transport unions failed to come to the aid of the
miners, who were facing wage reductions. Before the
general strike of 1926 Thomas was asked by the
TUC to negotiate with the
Conservative government of
Stanley Baldwin, but the talks proved abortive and the strike went ahead regardless.
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