Trade
unionism in engineering first emerged in the
1780s when a Friendly Society of Mechanics was established in Bolton,
Blackburn and Chorley. By 1799 employers in London
asked Parliament to make it illegal for millwrights and engineers
to combine. This resulted in the passing of the Combination
Acts in 1799 and 1800.
In the 1820s local engineering unions began to develop in industrial
areas. This included the Steam Engine Makers' Society (1824), Friendly
Society of Mechanics (1826) and the Friendly Society of Engineers
(1833). In 1851 a successful attempt was made to form a national union.
The result was the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, Machinists, Smiths,
Millwrights and Patternmakers, an organisation with 10,841 members.
William Allan was elected General Secretary
and by 1861 it had 186 branches and over 33,000 union members.
In the 1880s the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) became much
more militant. Important figures in the union included Tom
Mann, John Burns, and George
Barnes. These men took part in demonstrations such as the one
at Trafalgar Square on the 13th February, 1887 that turned into the
riot known as Bloody Sunday.
In 1890 John Burns was elected general secretary
of the union in 1890. When Burns became a member of the House of Commons,
George Barnes replaced him as the leader
of the union. The ASE was now Britain third largest union in Britain.
In July 1897 Amalgamated Society of Engineers Barnes led the in a
long strike in an attempt to win an eight-hour day. The strike ended
in January 1898 without this being achieved, but one success was the
acceptance by the Employers Federation that it was willing to negotiate
wages and conditions with the ASE.
Membership card of the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
