{{Infobox union , name = Wire Workers' Union , location_country=

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 ...

, affiliation =

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 ...

, members = 13,000 (1960s) , image = File:Amalgamated_Society_of_Wire_Drawers_and_Kindred_Workers_logo.jpg , founded = 1840 , dissolved = 1991 , merged =

Iron and Steel Trades Confederation The Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) was a British trade union for metal-workers and allied groups, being the largest union in these fields. It was formed on 1 January 1917 as a merger of existing steel-workers' unions and it is now pa ...

, headquarters = Prospect House, Alma Street,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

{{cite book, last1=Eaton, first1=Jack, last2=Gill, first2=Colin, title=The Trade Union Directory, date=1981, publisher=Pluto Press, location=London, isbn=0861043502, pages=146–147 , key_people = , website = , footnotes = The Wire Workers' Union 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 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

which existed between 1840 and 1991. It represented workers involved in the manufacture of

wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...

History

The union originated in 1840 as the Federated Wire Drawers Association, bringing together various local unions. Although it had some success among those involved in the manufacture of thick wire, workers in thin wire did not join. By 1868, its total membership was only 700 and based entirely in England, but it adopted the new name of the Thick Iron and Steel Wire Drawers Association.Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, ''Historical directory of trade unions, Vol. 6'', pp.325-327 The association struggled through the

Long Depression The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in Panic of 1873, 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1899, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been e ...

of the 1870s, and almost collapsed, being refounded in 1886 as the Iron and Steel Wire Drawers Trade Superannuation Gift and Burial Society of Great Britain. On this basis, it gained membership across the north of England and also in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, finally persuading the Halifax Small Wire Drawers to affiliate. In 1890, it became the Federated Wire Drawers Trade and Sick Benefit Society of the United Kingdom, with membership rising above 1,000 by the end of the decade. In 1901, the federation adopted a more centralised structure and was again renamed, as the Amalgamated Wire Drawers Trade and Sick Benefit Society of the United Kingdom, then in 1908 it became the Amalgamated Wire Drawers Society of Great Britain, membership soon moving over 2,000. From 1916, unskilled wire workers were admitted, taking membership to 5,000 and prompting a further name change to the Amalgamated Society of Wire Drawers and Kindred Workers. In 1922, it merged into the

(ISTC), but left again only two years later, re-establishing an independent existence. Writing in the 1940s,

G. D. H. Cole George Douglas Howard Cole (25 September 1889 – 14 January 1959) was an English political theorist, economist, historian, and novelist. As a believer in common ownership of the means of production, he theorised guild socialism (production ...

described the union as one of the three major unions dedicated solely to the metalworking industry in Britain, alongside the ISTC and the

National Union of Blastfurnacemen The National Union of Blastfurnacemen, Ore Miners, Coke Workers and Kindred Trades (NUB) was a trade union in England and Wales which existed between 1888 and 1985. It represented process workers in the British iron and steel industry. History ...

, ''British Trade Unionism To-Day'', p.351 The society reached its peak in the 1960s with membership over 13,000, but then rapidly declined. It merged with the Card Dressers Union in 1984, adopting its final name of the Wire Workers' Union, although by that point the Card Dressers had only twenty members remaining. Membership slumped to around 5,000, so in 1991 the union merged with the

General Secretaries

:J. Bramwell :1908: Alfred Birtles :1935: T. Seed :1958: R. Birtwhistle :1968: Len Carr :1983: Matt Ardron

References

Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1840 Trade unions disestablished in 1991 1840 establishments in the United Kingdom Metal trade unions Trade unions established in the 1840s Iron and Steel Trades Confederation amalgamations Trade unions based in South Yorkshire