Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section
The Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS) was a British trade union.
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Full name | Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section |
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Founded | 21 May 1913 |
Date dissolved | 1988 |
Merged into | Manufacturing Science and Finance |
Members | 170,751 (1980)[1] |
Journal | The Draughtsman TASS News and Journal[1] |
Head union | Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (1970–1985) |
Affiliation | TUC, CSEU, IMF, LMTU, Labour |
Office location | Onslow Hall, Richmond upon Thames[1] |
Country | United Kingdom |
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History
The union was founded in 1913 by 200 draughtsmen, as the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen (AESD). It expanded rapidly, and had more than 14,000 member by the end of the decade. Although it declined during the Great Depression, it retained most of its members by offering unemployment benefit, and by 1939 established a new high of 23,000 members, this rising to 44,000 by the end of World War II and over 75,000 by 1968. From 1960, it accepted technicians in ancillary roles, changing its name to the Draughtsmen's and Allied Technicians' Association (DATA).[2]
In 1970, DATA amalgamated with the Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers (AUEFW) and Constructional Engineering Union (CEU) to form the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (AUEW). The former members of DATA formed the Technical and Supervisory Section of the new union. At the 1973 Representative Council Conference it was agreed to rename it the Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS).
In 1985, after considerable problems within the AUEW, TASS broke away to become an independent union.
TASS absorbed the National Union of Gold, Silver and Allied Trades (NUGSAT) in 1981, the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers, Coppersmiths, Heating and Domestic Engineers in 1983, the Association of Patternmakers and Allied Craftsmen in 1984, the Tobacco Workers' Union in 1986, and the National Society of Metal Mechanics in 1987.
In 1988, it merged with the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) to become the Manufacturing Science and Finance Union (MSF). MSF in turn merged with the AEEU to form Amicus in 2002. This resulted in TASS and the former AUEW (by then part of the AEEU) being re-united within one union.
Election results
The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in each Parliamentary election from 1950 onwards.
Leadership
General Secretaries
- 1913: L. Blair[14]
- 1918: Peter Doig[14]
- 1945: James Young[14]
- 1952: George Doughty[14]
- 1974: Ken Gill
Assistant General Secretaries
Deputy General Secretaries
- 1968: Ken Gill
- 1973: John Forrester
- 1979: Eric Winterbottom
- 1983: Barbara Switzer
References
- Eaton, Jack; Gill, Colin (1981). The Trade Union Directory. London: Pluto Press. pp. 106–113. ISBN 0861043502.
- Peter Armstrong et al, White Collar Workers Trade Unions and Class, pp. 163–164.
- "List of Parliamentary Labour candidates and election results, February 23rd, 1950". Report of the Conference of the Labour Party: 179–198. 1950.
- Labour Party, Report of the Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 184–203.
- Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 255–275.
- Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 179–201.
- Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 158–180.
- Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 308–330.
- Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 289–312.
- Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 371–390.
- Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 391–411.
- Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 406–431.
- General Election Guide. BBC Data Publications. 1983. ISBN 094635815X.
- Mortimer, J. E. (1960). A History of the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen. London: Macgibbon and Kee.
External links
- Catalogue of the TASS archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
- Catalogue of the DATA archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.