The Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen's Association was a trade union representing workers in the textile industry in the United Kingdom, principally in Lancashire. The union was founded in 1894 as the Amalgamated Society of Clothlookers and Warehousemen, and initially had just 203 members across five autonomous branches. These branches were in Blackburn, Burnley, Bury, Colne and Nelson, Great Harwood and Padiham. Early in the 1900s, these branches established greater co-ordination and the organisation was renamed the General Amalgamation of Clothlookers and Warehousemen. New district associations were established in other towns in Lancashire and

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

on the initiative of the amalgamation, and by 1910 it had 21 branches with 2,790 members.Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', vol.4, pp.186-187 In 1913, the association took its best-known name, the "Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen's Association", and membership rose rapidly, to a peak of 11,000 in 1921. By the 1970s, it was losing members rapidly due to redundancies in the industry. It changed its name again to the Amalgamated Textile Warehouse Operatives Association, and developed strong links with the Amalgamated Textile Workers Union, the two sharing a general secretary. Most of the association's branches amalgamated or left the association in the early 1980s. The Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union itself merged into the

General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 460,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

(GMBATU) in 1985, and the Warehouse Operatives was dissolved the following year. Two remaining affiliates, in Bolton and Hyde, then merged into GMBATU,Jurgen Hoffman et al, ''A Comparison of the Trade Union Merger Process in Britain and Germany'', p.55 while Colne merged into GMBATU only in 1990, Nelson dissolved in 1991, and Padiham continued in existence.

General Secretaries

:1896: W. Riley :1900s: Edward Strong :1926: John Lee :1950: Thomas Ashe :1971: Frank Walker :1972: A. Birtwistle :1970s: Jack Brown

References

{{Lancashire Cotton Cotton industry in England Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Cotton industry trade unions 1894 establishments in the United Kingdom 1986 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions established in 1894 Trade unions disestablished in 1986 GMB (trade union) amalgamations Trade unions based in Lancashire