Founded 1873 Members 100,000 (1920) | Date dissolved 1971 Country United Kingdom | |
Full name National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives Merged into National Union of Footwear, Leather and Allied Trades | ||
The National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives (NUBSO) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1873 and 1971. It represented workers in the footwear industry.
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History
The union was founded in 1873, when many riveters and finishers left the Amalgamated Association of Boot and Shoemakers (AABS). They were dissatisfied by their low status within the old union, and instead formed the National Union of Boot and Shoe Rivetters and Finishers (NUBSRF). Membership of the new union grew rapidly, reaching 10,000 by 1887. The General Union of Clickers and Rough-stuff Cutters merged with the NUBSRF in 1892, but most of its members left again in 1895.
The union organised a 34-week strike in 1897, in support of a minimum wage and a 54-hour week, but this was unsuccessful. It renamed itself as the "National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives", and joined the General Federation of Trade Unions the following year. It absorbed the AABS in 1916, and membership rose over 100,000 by 1920, although it soon fell to around 80,000. Members in the Republic of Ireland left in 1953, to form the Irish Shoe and Leather Workers Union.
A major decline in the British shoe-making industry led the union to merge with the Amalgamated Society of Leather Workers, the National Union of Glovers and Leather Workers and the National Union of Leather Workers and Allied Trades in 1971, forming National Union of Footwear, Leather and Allied Trades.