Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades

The union was founded in 1919 with the merger of six local unions, all based in north Staffordshire or southern Cheshire:[3]

• Amalgamated Society of Silk Pickers (founded 1884)
• Amalgamated Society of Braid Workers and Kindred Trades (founded 1889)
• Amalgamated Society of Silk and Cotton Dyers (founded 1897)
• Amalgamated Society of Women Workers (founded 1906)
• Amalgamated Society of Silk Spinners, Throwsters and Reelers (founded 1907)
• Association of Trimming Weavers' Society of Leek and District (founded 1871)
• Leek Spun Silk Dressers Union (founded 1907)

Several of the unions were led by William Bromfield, and he became the first secretary of the new union, serving until 1942.[4]

In 1951, the union affiliated to the Amalgamated Weavers' Association, but it left a few years later, in order to cut its expenses. In 1965, it merged with the National Silk Weavers and Textile Traders Association, meaning that for the first time it had members outside Cheshire and Staffordshire, although only in a limited number of locations: Dunfermline, Farnworth, Great Yarmouth and Pontypridd.[3]

In 1992, the union renamed itself as the Union of Textile Workers, and in 2000, it merged into the Manufacturing, Science and Finance union.[5]

• Frank Burchill and Jim Sweeney, A history of trade unionism in the North Staffordshire textile industry