The history of the Foundation is critical to us. In 1989 more than 200,000 trade union members contributed to a 35-Hour Week Fund established by Alex Ferry, the General Secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU). This Fund provided essential financial support to workers who were engaged in an industrial campaign for a 35-hour working week.  Following the conclusion of that campaign and industrial action, a surplus was left in the Fund.

All the interested parties were represented in a High Court Case heard in 2018 (High Court of Justice, 2018). In order to preserve the Fund for the general benefit of the original donors all the parties agreed to transfer the whole of 35-Hour Week Fund to be “held absolutely and beneficially” in a charitable body, the Alex Ferry Foundation. The money was therefore  “freed and discharged from the terms of the rules” of the 35-Hour Week Fund.

Read more about the background to the Alex Ferry Foundation