Cardroom Amalgamation

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For the British trade union of the 1920s and 1930s, see National Union of Textile Workers.
Cardroom Amalgamation
Amalgamated Association of Card and Blowing and Ring Room Operatives
Merged intoAmalgamated Textile Workers' Union
Founded1886
Dissolved1974
Headquarters81 Fountain Street, Manchester
Location
Members
52,000 (1910)
AffiliationsTUC, UTFWA

The Cardroom Amalgamation or Cardroom Workers' Amalgamation (CWA)[1] was a British trade union which existed between 1886 and 1974. It represented workers in the cotton textile industry.

History[]

The union was founded in 1886 as the Amalgamated Association of Card and Blowing Room Operatives, by the amalgamation of a few small, local unions. This followed the Oldham weavers' strike of 1885, which had led to non-unionised cardroom workers being locked out and losing their wages.[2]

Affiliates of the union were:

Union[3] Founded Affiliated Membership (1907)[4] Notes
Accrington 1886 1886 1,415 Merged into North East Lancashire
Ashton 1865 1886 N/A Merged into South East Lancashire 1887
Bacup and District 1889 1890 82 Disaffiliated 1893
Bamber Bridge and District 1922 1922 N/A Dissolved 1960s
Blackburn and District 1883 1886 1,755 Merged into Wigan, Blackburn and District about 1970
Bollington 1880s 1890 N/A Disaffiliated 1892
Bolton and District 1858 1886 8,500
Bury and District 1879 1886 1,340
Glossop 1886 1886 133 Merged into Hyde and District 1909
Hadfield 1860 1886 164 Merged into Hyde and District 1908
Heywood 1864 1888 1,356 Merged into Rochdale 1967
Huddersfield and District 1891 1892 Disaffiliated 1892
Hull c.1890 1892 N/A Dissolved about 1894
Hyde and District 1860 1886 2,128 Merged into South East Lancashire and Cheshire 1967
Macclesfield and District 1885 1886 153 Dissolved 1921
Manchester c.1880 1886 N/A Disaffiliated 1889–1891 and from 1893
Mossley 1875 1886 743 Dissolved 1942
North East Lancashire 1886 1886
Oldham 1880 1886 16,211
Oldham Cop-Packers 1908 1914 N/A Dissolved 1967
Preston 1897 1897 1,000 Predecessor held membership 1886–1891; merged into North East Lancashire 1961
Rochdale 1879 1886 2,900
Radcliffe Unknown 1886 N/A Merged into Bury 1890
Roller Coverers 1920 1920 N/A Dissolved 1960s
Salford and District 1895 1895 N/A Dissolved 1898
South East Lancashire 1887 1887 5,333 Merged into South East Lancashire and Cheshire 1967
Stalybridge 1885 1886 N/A Merged into South East Lancashire 1887
Sowerby Bridge and District 1892 1892 N/A Disaffiliated later in 1892
Stockport 1859 1886 1,700 Merged into South East Lancashire and Cheshire 1967
Warrington 1892 1893 N/A Disaffiliated 1894, predecessor affiliated in 1889
Wigan and District 1888 1888 1,647 Merged into Wigan and Blackburn 1967

The union represented a wide range of workers in the textile industry, and did not discriminate on the basis of occupation or skill. The core of the union's membership were the strippers and grinders, skilled adult male mechanics, who maintained the carding engines. Almost all strippers and grinders were union members.[5] The CWA also organised less skilled female ring spinners and other mill operatives. From 1904 onwards the only members required to have completed an apprenticeship were the strippers-and-grinders.[2]

The CWA grew rapidly and by 1910 it had 52,000 members.[5] In 1924, it changed its name to the Amalgamated Association of Card and Blowing and Ring Room Operatives, and in 1952 it became the National Association of Card, Blowing and Ring Room Operatives, before adopting its final name, the National Union of Textile and Allied Workers (NUTAW), in 1968.[3]

The CWA was more aggressive in its attitude towards negotiating with employers than the other major cotton unions and by the mid-1960s the wages of strippers and grinders equalled those of mule spinners, traditionally the highest-paid textile workers.[6]

In 1974, the union merged with the Amalgamated Weavers' Association, to form the Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union.[3]

General secretaries[]

1886: William Mullin
1920: William Thomasson
1935: Alfred Roberts
1962: Joe King

Presidents[]

1886: George Silk
c.1890: Enoch Jones
1896: James Crinion
1926: Joseph Frayne
1936: Archie Robertson
1953: Harold Chorlton
1964: Jim Browning
1972: Roy Bennett

References[]

  1. ^ Joseph L. White, The Limits of Trade Union Militancy, p.240, note 9
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Penn, Roger (1984). Skilled Workers in the Class Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 65–67. ISBN 978 0 521 25455 7. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Marsh, Arthur; Ryan, Victoria; Smethurst, John B. (1994). Historical Directory of Trade Unions. 4. Farnham: Ashgate. pp. 62–89, 205. ISBN 9780859679008.
  4. ^ Report on Trade Unions in 1905-1907. London: Board of Trade. 1909. pp. 26–27.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b White, Joseph L. (1978). The Limits of Trade Union Militancy: The Lancashire Textile Workers, 1910-1914. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 76. ISBN 0-313-20029-7.
  6. ^ White, Joseph L. (1978). The Limits of Trade Union Militancy: The Lancashire Textile Workers, 1910-1914. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 240. ISBN 0-313-20029-7.
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