The Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU) was a British

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

. It merged with the MSF to form Amicus in 2001.

History

The union was founded in 1992, when the

Amalgamated Engineering Union The Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) was a major United Kingdom, British trade union. It merged with the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union to form the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in 1992. History ...

(AEU) finally achieved a merger with the

Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union The Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union, known as the EETPU, was a British trade union formed in 1968 as a union for electricians and plumbers, which went through three mergers from 1992 to now be part of Unite the Un ...

(EETPU), after a hundred years of off-and-on discussions. The new union took the name Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union. The AEU had been affiliated to the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

, while the EETPU was not, so the merged organisation held a ballot on the question of affiliation; members voted for the new union to affiliate. The AEEU was also the largest member of the

Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions The Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU), often known as the Confed is a trade union confederation in the United Kingdom. History The confederation was founded in December 1890 as the Federation of Engineering and Shipbuil ...

. Membership of the new union continued to fall in line with the decline in employment in the sectors it covered. By 2001, its membership had fallen to 728,200. That year, it merged with the

Manufacturing, Science and Finance Manufacturing, Science and Finance (or the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union; almost exclusively known as MSF) was a trade union in Britain. Over eighty members of Parliament (primarily members of the Labour Party) were members. Histor ...

union to form Amicus.James C. Docherty and Sjaak van der Velden, ''Historical Dictionary of Organized Labor'', pp.24-25

General Secretaries

:1992:

Gavin Laird Sir Gavin Harry Laird (14 March 1933 – 26 October 2017) was a Scottish trade unionist, who became General Secretary of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU) and a Member of the Court of the Bank of England. Growing up in C ...

and Paul Gallagher :1994: Paul Gallagher :1995: Ken Jackson

Presidents

:1992: Bill Jordan and Ken Jackson :1994: Bill Jordan :1994: John Weakley (acting) :1996: Davey Hall

References

External links

Catalogue of the AEEU archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
Catalogue of further AEEU archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick {{Authority control Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Engineering trade unions 1992 establishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions established in 1992 Trade unions disestablished in 2001 Trade unions based in London