Tobacco Workers' Union

The Tobacco Workers' Union (TWU) was a trade union representing workers in all areas of the tobacco industry in the United Kingdom.

For the union based in the United States, see Tobacco Workers International Union.

For the Belgian trade union, see Tobacco Workers' Union (Belgium).

Tobacco Workers' Union

Founded	1834
Date dissolved	1986
Merged into	Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section
Members	20,630 (1980)
Journal	Tobacco Worker[1]
Affiliation	Trade Union Congress
Office location	City Road, London
Country	United Kingdom

History

The union was founded in 1834 in London as the Friendly Society of Operative Tobacconists. Two years later, it expanded its membership to include tobacco cutters, dryers and stovers and was renamed the United Tobacconists Society. In 1851, it expanded again to include cigarette makers, and in 1881 it took another name, the United Operative Tobacconists throughout the Kingdom.[2] For much of this period, the union was based in Liverpool at the houses of its successive general secretaries, but in 1918 it relocated to London.[3]

In 1925, the association became an industrial union, admitting all workers in the tobacco industry, including women, and adopted its final name.[2] However, the following year, it was disaffiliated from the Trades Union Congress after other unions complained that it was poaching their members. It rejoined only in 1941.[4] In 1946, the union merged with the rival National Cigar and Tobacco Workers' Union.[3]

In 1986, the union merged into Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section, forming the union's new Tobacco Sector.[4]

Election results

The union sponsored its Liverpool district organiser as a Labour Party candidate in the 1959 UK general election:[5][6]

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Position
Middleton and Prestwich	Fred Barton	21,248	40.4	2

General secretaries

1834: Robert Stevens

1910s: E. Kayler

1924: C. W. Dorrell

1925: Andrew Boyd

1941: Percy Belcher

1964: David Burke

1967: Charles Butler

1969: Doug Grieve

References

1. Marsh, Arthur (1984). Trade Union Handbook (3 ed.). Aldershot: Gower. pp. 355–356. ISBN 0566024268.
2. Eaton, Jack; Gill, Colin (1981). The Trade Union Directory. London: Pluto Press. p. 216-217.
3. Tobacco Workers' Union, The Tobacco Workers' Union, 1834-1984
4. University of Warwick, "Tobacco Workers' Union"
5. Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.179-201
6. "Fred Barton", Manchester Guardian, 18 December 1963

External links

• Catalogue of the TWU archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick