Aberdeen Trades Union Council (ATUC) is the body made up of affiliated trade union branches and organisations working in the

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

area to promote the interests of workers in the region. The ATUC provides services to affiliated branches on a wide range of industrial, social and community issues and is affiliated to the STUC. It has an office based in Aberdeen,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

History

Trade unionists in Aberdeen first formed a committee in 1846, in order to support joiners who were on strike. This committee lasted for three years, and no further organisation was established until 1868, when stonemasons in the town held a ten-week strike. John Jessiman of the Associated Carpenters and Joiners of Scotland founded the Aberdeen United Trades Council, with the aim of establishing a conciliation board to resolve future disputes. This was not achieved, but the council endured. Originally, thirteen trade union branches affiliated, but by 1873 it had more than fifty delegates. Even by the 1880s, the council represented only 2,000 workers, but its ability to support unions on strike, campaign for shorter working hours and the municipalisation of utilities, gave it prominent role in the city. Socialists increasingly took leading roles on the council, focusing on organising unskilled workers, and setting up a union of women workers and the Scottish Farm Servants' Union. In 1890, it finally achieved its aim of establishing a conciliation board but, since its rulings were not binding, it achieved little, considering only nine cases by 1906. The council first began electoral activity by opposing the re-election of

Lord Provost of Aberdeen The Lord Provost of Aberdeen is the convener of the Aberdeen City Council in Scotland. They are elected by the city council and serve not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city. They are equivalent in many ways ...

George Jamieson. By 1879, it was backing favoured candidates in the

School Board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

election, and it first supported independent labour candidates in the 1884 local elections, with James Forbes and George Maconnachie elected. In 1891, it was a founding affiliate of the Scottish United Trades Councils Labour Party, and sponsored

Henry Hyde Champion Henry Hyde Champion (22 January 1859 – 30 April 1928) was a socialist journalist and activist, regarded as a leading figure in the early political organisations of the British labour movement. From a middle-class background, he was an early ...

in Aberdeen South at the 1892 general election, although he could only take third place in the poll. At the 1895 general election, there was another independent labour candidate, John Lincoln Mahon, but the council eventually decided not to back his candidacy. The council also engaged with the broader trade union movement. It hosted the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

in Aberdeen in 1884, and in 1895 it hosted a meeting of Scottish trade unions and trades councils which led to the formation of the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation from the English and Welsh ...

(STUC), in 1897. In 1973, it became the leading organisation in the new Grampian Federation of Trades Councils. Early in its history, the council met at the Queens Rooms on Union Street, but in 1892 it purchased its own headquarters on Belmont Street, and four years later opened a purpose-built trades hall, with murals by

Douglas Strachan Douglas Strachan Hon. RSA (26 May 1875, Aberdeen, Scotland – 20 November 1950) is considered the most significant Scottish designer of stained glass windows in the 20th century. He is best known for his windows at the Peace Palace in The Hagu ...

. It relocated to a former warehouse in 1956, then to its social club, and now once more meets at hired rooms. The trades council continued to grow until 1920, when it reached a peak affiliated membership of 16,684. That year, it formed a council of action to oppose British intervention in the Polish-Soviet War. It co-ordinated local activity during the 1926

UK general strike The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government ...

, then during the 1930s focused on organising workers who were not trade union members. From 1918, the council was known as the Aberdeen Trades and Labour Council, and incorporated the local Labour Party. This arrangement ended in 1935, and it broke all links with the party in 1937 in order to take part in the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

National Unemployed Workers' Movement The National Unemployed Workers' Movement was a British organisation set up in 1921 by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It aimed at drawing attention to the plight of unemployed workers during the post-First World War slump, the 1 ...

and United Front Against Fascism. While a merger with the NUWM was proposed, this did not occur, and the council soon returned to the Labour Party. The council remained prominent in the STUC as the Aberdeen Trades Council and began growing again, membership reaching a new peak of 26,000 in 1980. Since then, its membership has declined in line with the Scottish trade union movement. In 2003, it was officially renamed as the Aberdeen Trades Union Council.

Secretaries

:1868: Alexander Rennie :1877: William Brown :1878: John W. Annand :1885: James Forbes :1887: William Johnston :1907: G. A. Fraser :1913: James Balfour :1925: G. R. Mcintosh :1935: William Urquhart :1937: George Maitland :as of 1939: William McLean Brown :1948: Jimmy Milne :1969: :as of 1980: Ron Webster :1994: James Lamond :1998: Sultan Feroz :2012: Brian Carroll :2014: Nathan Morrison :2015: Laura McDonald :2016: ''Post vacant'' :2017: John Connon and Gerry McCabe :2018: Fiona Napier :2020: Sasha Bryden :2022: Fiona Napier :2023: John Singer :2024: Andrew MacGregor & Douglas Haywood

Presidents

:1868: Alexander Kidd :1875: Thomas Gill :1877: George Taylor :1879: William Anderson :1882: William Elphinstone :1883: James C. Thompson :1886: George Bisset :1889: William Livingstone :1890: Thomas Nicol :1895: John Keir :1898: Alexander Robertson :1900: John H. Elric :1903: H. H. Duncan :1911: Joseph Forbes Duncan :1913: David Palmer :1918: James C Allan :1919: George Catto :1922: G. R. McIntosh :1923: W. Williamson :1925: Thomas Brown :1927: P. Irvine :1928: Charles Bathgate :1929: Robert A. R. Fraser :1930: Robert Raffan :1935: M. Hetherington :1938: James J. Stewart :1952: William James Fraser :1969: James Lamond :1982: Jurgen Thomaneck :1990s: Sultan Feroz :2014: Alan Robertson :2015: Kate Ramsden :2017: Kevin Hutchens and Tyrinne Rutherford :2018: Kathleen Kennedy :2019: Sasha Brydon :2021: Graeme Farquhar

References

External links

*{{Official website, aberdeentuc.blogspot.com 1868 establishments in Scotland National trade union centres of the United Kingdom Organisations based in Aberdeen Politics of Aberdeen Scottish Trades Union Congress Trades councils Trade unions established in 1868

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

History

Secretaries

Presidents

See also

Further reading

References

External links