The National Winding and General Engineers' Society was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It primarily represented stationary engineers employed at underground coal mines to operate the

winding engine A winding engine is a stationary engine used to control a wire rope, cable, for example to power a hoist (mining), mining hoist at a pit head. Electric hoist controllers have replaced proper winding engines in modern mining, but use electric motor ...

s which ran the mining hoists. The operation of the mining hoist was a crucial part of the operation of a colliery and the engineers who ran them were generally more skilled than the general mineworkers, who were represented by the

Miners' Federation of Great Britain The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was established after a meeting of local mining trade unions in Newport, Wales, Newport, Wales in 1888. The federation was formed to represent and co-ordinate the affairs of local and regional miners' ...

(MFGB). The demarcation between engineers and miners often led to conflict between the two unions, as the MFGB aimed to be an industrial union, representing all employees in coal mining. The engineers' union was affiliated to 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 ...

. It merged with the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general union, general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900 ...

in 1935.

References

Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Mining trade unions Mining in the United Kingdom Trade unions disestablished in 1935 Transport and General Workers' Union amalgamations Trade unions based in South Yorkshire {{UK-trade-union-stub

See also

References