Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades

The Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades (ASTWKT) was a trade union representing textile workers, principally silk manufacturing, in the United Kingdom.

The union was founded in 1919 with the merger of six local unions, all based in north Staffordshire or southern Cheshire:^[1] the Amalgamated Society of Silk Pickers, Amalgamated Society of Braid Workers and Kindred Trades, Amalgamated Society of Silk and Cotton Dyers, Amalgamated Society of Women Workers, Amalgamated Society of Silk Spinners, Throwsters and Reelers, and the Leek Spun Silk Dressers Union. Several of the unions were led by William Bromfield, and he became the first secretary of the new union, serving until 1942.^[2]

In 1951, the union affiliated to the Amalgamated Weavers' Association, but it left a few years later, in order to cut its expenses. In 1965, it merged with the National Silk Weavers and Textile Traders Association, meaning that for the first time it had members outside Cheshire and Staffordshire, although only in a limited number of locations: Dunfermline, Farnworth, Great Yarmouth and Pontypridd.^[1]

In 1992, the union renamed itself as the Union of Textile Workers, and in 2000, it merged into the Manufacturing, Science and Finance union.^[3]

General secretaries

1919: William Bromfield

1942: Tom Birch

1946: Herbert Lisle

1983: Alfred Hitchmough

Further reading

• Frank Burchill and Jim Sweeney, A history of trade unionism in the North Staffordshire textile industry

References

1. 1 2 Exton, Jack; Gill, Colin (1981). The Trade Union Directory. London: Pluto Press. pp. 183–184. 
2. ↑ Working Class Movement Library, "Silk workers' unions"
3. ↑ Peter Carter and John B. Smethurst, Historical Directory of Trade Unions: Volume 6, p.116