2.1) World War I
The First World War had a profound effect on the retail industry and its workers.
Distribution was deemed a non-essential occupationand, by 1915, 430,000 young men had volunteered to join the armed forces, many never to return. Sixty per cent of AUCE members - 25,297 - joined up and 2,103 are recorded as having lost their lives.
Unlike today, it was considered that women were incapable of replacing the men and there were fears that the civilian food supplywould break down if stripped of its experienced workers. This was soon proved to be untrue.
Women entered the retail industry in their thousands. Ellen Wilkinson who later became MP for Jarrow - was appointed the AUCE's first woman organiser to look after their interests and, by the end of the war, female membership of the AUCE had risen from about 7,000 to over 36,000.
The Union fought for equal pay for women who replaced men, and won it in a large number of Co-operative Societies.
In 1918 women did get a reward of sorts for their efforts. The vote if over 30 - and the sack from their jobs when the men returned from the front!
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