[2] In 1898, he joined the Friendly Society of Iron Founders (FSIF), and he soon became active on Nottingham Trades Council, and in the Labour Party.
[3] Bell became the GFTU's first full-time organiser, travelling the country to negotiate with employers and between unions, and trying to gain the federation new affiliates.
The organisation only survived the 1940s after it was determined that, if it was dissolved, founder members which had long since left would be entitled to a share of its substantial reserves.
[3] Bell was nearly 70 by 1947, when the GFTU changed its rules to state that its general secretary must retire, and would receive a pension, from that age.
As he and his wife had become the guardian of a young, orphaned, granddaughter, he was happy to continue, and from 1950 he tentatively introduced some new initiatives: joint campaigns with the Trades Union Congress, and from 1951, the quarterly Federation News in 1951.