Founded 1885 Members 2,410 (1979) Country United Kingdom | Date dissolved 2007 Office location Blackburn | |
Affiliation General Federation of Trade Unions, Labour Party, Trade Union Congress, UTFWA | ||
The General Union of Loom Overlookers (GULO) was a trade union representing junior supervisors in textile manufacturing in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1885 and dissolved in 2007.
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History
The union was founded in 1885 as the National Confederate Association of Power Loom Overlookers. It was soon renamed the General Union of Associations of Power-Loom Overlookers, as it comprised numerous small unions, mostly based in Lancashire. Early in the 1900s, it again changed its name to become the General Union of Associations of Loom Overlookers.
The union was keen to support broader trade union ventures. It was a founder member of the Labour Representation Committee, and affiliated to the United Textile Factory Workers' Association, the General Federation of Trade Unions and the Trades Union Congress.
In 1971, the union founded the "British Federation of Textile Technicians" with two smaller, independent unions: the Yorkshire Association of Power Loom Overlookers and the Scottish Union of Power Loom Overlookers.
By 1979, the union consisted of fourteen local unions, although their total membership was only 2,410. It suffered a dramatic loss of membership as mills closed during the 1980s and 1990s, with only 265 members remaining at the end of the century. By 1997, it had only two affiliates, the United Association of Power Loom Overlookers and the Amalgamated Power Loom Overlookers, and that year its federal structure was abandoned, members instead joining the central body, now renamed the "General Union of Loom Overlookers". Despite this change, membership continued to drop, falling to only 138 in 2007, when the union was dissolved. Former members of the union transferred to the GMB.