Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union

The Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union (ATWU) was a trade union in Great Britain.[1]

Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union
Founded1 January 1974
Date dissolved1985
Merged intoGeneral, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union
Members19,500 (1983)
AffiliationTUC, ITGLWF
Office locationTextile Union Centre, 5 Caton Street, Rochdale
CountryUnited Kingdom

History

The union was founded in 1974, when the Amalgamated Weavers' Association merged with the National Union of Textile and Allied Workers.[2] The Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen's Association developed close links with the new union, and the two shared a general secretary.[3]

In 1983, the important Burnley, Nelson, Rossendale and District Textile Workers' Union decided to leave the ATWU, and argued that as its largest affiliate, it should be entitled to a proportionate share of the union's funds. The ATWU disagreed, and the disputed went to the High Court of England and Wales, which rejected the Burnley and Nelson union's claim.[4]

With widespread redundancies in the industry, the union lost two-thirds of its members before it merged into the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union in 1985.[5] Based in Rochdale, the union's final general secretary was Jack Brown.[1]

Affiliates

By 1982, the union had the following affiliates:[6]

Blackburn and District Weavers', Winders' and Warpers' Association
Bolton and District Union of Textile and Allied Workers
Bolton and District Weavers', Winders' and Warpers' Association
Burnley, Nelson, Rossendale and District Textile Workers' Union
Colne and Craven Textile Workers' Association
Oldham Provincial Union of Textile and Allied Workers
National Union of Textile and Allied Workers, Rochdale and Districts
Northern Textile and Allied Workers' Union
North Lancashire and Cumbria Textile Workers' Association
North West Lancashire, Durham and Cumbria Textile Workers' Union
Rochdale and Todmorden District of the Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union
Southern Area
Staff Section
Wigan

Leadership

General Secretaries
1974: Fred Hague and Joe King
1975: Fred Hague
1976: Jack Brown

Presidents
1974: Jim Browning
1976: Joe Quinn
1984: Albert Hilton
gollark: Do you have any criteria? You should start having those.
gollark: Wars and pandemics *now* affect everyone while historical ones did not.
gollark: I'd say the problems are more problematic now. Due to greater scale and complexity.
gollark: Without technology we would just have been wiped out in some random population bottleneck.
gollark: There are ways to make things continue to work. I don't know if people will actually do them, but still.

References
  1. G. P. and S. P. A. Henderson, Directory of British Associations & Associations in Ireland (8th Edition), p.7
  2. "Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine", Archives Hub
  3. Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.4, pp.186-187
  4. Honeyball, Simon (2012). Honeyball and Bowers' Textbook on Employment Law (12 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 345. ISBN 019963985X.
  5. Gary N. Chalson, Union mergers in hard times: the view from five countries, pp.91-92
  6. Marsh, Arthur (1984). Trade Union Handbook (3 ed.). Aldershot: Gower. pp. 350–352. ISBN 0566024268.
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