National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers

NUHKW
Full name National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers
Founded 1945
Date dissolved 1991
Merged into National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades
Members 74,077 (1977)
Journal NUHKW Journal[1]
Affiliation TUC
Office location 55 New Walk, Leicester
Country United Kingdom

The National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers (NUHKW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom.

History

The union was founded in 1945, with the merger of the Hinckley, Ilkeston, Leicester, Loughborough and Nottingham Hosiery Unions. Shortly after, most Scottish unions voted to join the new organisation.[2] Sections were also created for northern and southern England and, by the end of the year, it had 22,430 members. The following year, it secured a national agreement limiting night work and restricting total working to 45 hours per week.[3]

In 1970, a threat of national strike action secured a 10% wage increase and the abandonment of plans for a continuous shift system. Membership of the union continued to grow, reaching a peak of 74,077 in 1977. Several small unions affiliated, the most notable being the Amalgamated Society of Operative Lace Makers and Textile Workers. However, widespread redundancies in the sector began reducing membership. In 1991, it merged with the National Union of Footwear, Leather and Allied Trades, with 34,183 members remaining to join the new National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades.[3]

General Secretaries

1945: Clifford Groocock
1960: George Dearing
1963: Harold Gibson[4]
1975: David Lambert[5]
1982: George Marshall[6]
1984: Tom Kirk[7]
1989: Helen McGrath[8]

General Presidents

1945: Horace Moulden
1963: George Dearing
1968: Peter Pendergast
1975: Harold Gibson
1982: David Lambert

Further reading

  • Richard Gurnham A History of the TRADE UNION MOVEMENT in the HOSIERY and KNITWEAR INDUSTRY 1776-1976 (NUHKW, Leicester 1976)
  • Bramwell G Rudd COURTAULDS and the HOSIERY & KNITWEAR INDUSTRY (Carnegie Publishing Ltd) (2014, ISBN softback 978-1-905472-06-2, hardback 978-1-905472-18-5)

References

  1. ↑ Marsh, Arthur (1984). Trade Union Handbook (3 ed.). Aldershot: Gower. pp. 238&ndash, 239. ISBN 0566024268.
  2. ↑ NUHKW - National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers, Community (trade union) page archived at web.archive.org
  3. 1 2 National Union of Hosiery & Knitwear Workers, Knitting Together
  4. ↑ The Who's Who Of Radical Leicester retrieved 2012-05-28
  5. ↑ "Hosiery and Knitwear union ballots members...", Tribune 1981-05-08, retrieved 2012-05-28
  6. ↑ Knitwear leader dies Tribune (magazine) 1984-05-18, retrieved 2012-05-28]
  7. ↑ Knitwear post, Glasgow Herald 1984-06-12, retrieved 2012-05-28
  8. ↑ News in brief, 1994-04-29, retrieved 2012-05-28
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