Founded 1884 Members 224,000 (1921) Country United Kingdom | Date dissolved 1974 Affiliation TUC, GFTU, UTFWA | |
Merged into Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union | ||
The Amalgamated Weavers' Association, often known as the Weavers' Amalgamation, was a trade union in the United Kingdom. Initially, it operated in competition with the North East Lancashire Amalgamated Weavers' Association in part of its area, and it was therefore nicknamed the Second Amalgamation.
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The union was founded in 1884 as the Northern Counties Amalgamated Association of Weavers, with the participation of thirty-four local trade unions:
The majority of the union's members were female: in 1894, 45,000 of its 80,000 total membership were women. This was unusual; outside the cotton industry, very few women were members of trade unions. By 1937, membership had risen to 94,000, and the proportion of women had grown further, to a total of 75,000 of its members.
For many years, the union campaigned against the practice of steaming in cotton mills.
The union took its final name in 1923. In 1974, it merged with the National Union of Textile and Allied Workers to form the Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union.
Notable leaders of the union include secretary Thomas Birtwistle and president David Shackleton.