The Card Setting Machine Tenters' Society (CSMTS) was a

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 ( ...

representing workers responsible for setting up textile

carding Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibres between differentially moving su ...

machines 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

History

The union was founded in late 1872 as a

New Model Union New Model Trade Unions (NMTU) were a variety of Trade Unions prominent in the 1850s and 1860s in the UK. The term was coined by Sidney and Beatrice Webb in their '' History of Trade Unionism'' (1894), although later historians have questioned h ...

and was initially based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Other branches were formed in

Cleckheaton Cleckheaton is a town in the Metropolitan borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Bradford, east of Brighouse, west of Batley and south-west of Leeds. It ...

, Halifax, Haughton Dale and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, and they initially had a high level of autonomy;West Yorkshire Archive Service,
CARD SETTING MACHINE TENTERS' SOCIETY, RECORDS (WYK1257)
{dead link, date=November 2016 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes " those in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

covered the cotton industry, while those in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

were primarily in the woolen industry. At this point, the union was also known as the Wire Card Setting Machine Tenters' Society.Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, ''Historical Directory of British Trade Unions'' (vol.2), p.30 In 1875, the union formed an executive council to co-ordinate activity, based in Halifax. That year, the Cleckheaton branch embarked on a strike to reduce their working week to 56 hours, but some members broke the strike, which collapsed, while the loyal members were sacked and generally unable to find work in the industry. Although greatly weakened, the union survived, and experienced its most successful period between 1898 and 1918, when it was led by Tom Forrest. It joined the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) and affiliated to the Labour Representation Committee, becoming heavily involved in local politics. In 1915/16, the union undertook a 23-week strike, demanding a 15% increase in wages. This was not achieved, although a smaller increase of 2 shillings per week was won. Thereafter, it focused on non-militant bargaining with employers. In 1948, the CSMTS 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 ...

(TUC). It remained affiliated to the GFTU, and its former General President

Leslie Hodgson Leslie Hodgson (29 August 1914 – 17 January 1979) was a British trade unionist. Born in Driffield,"Leslie Hodgson", ''Federation News'', vols.27-29, p.29 Hodgson came into contact with the trade union movement by playing cricket alongside c ...

was elected as General Secretary of the GFTU in 1953. Membership of the union declined from the 1950s due to the introduction of metallic carding in the cotton industry. The union was thereafter restricted to the woolen industry in Yorkshire; by 1982, the majority of its members worked for the English Card Clothing Company,Jack Eaton and Colin Gill, ''The Trade Union Directory'' (1981), p.177 and by 1984, membership was down to just 130. Membership decline continued, to only 88 in 1994. That year, about half the remaining membership, including the general secretary, were laid off, leading to one final major strike. By 2007, the CSMTS was the smallest union affiliated to the TUC, with just 19 members, falling to five at the end of the year, when it decided to dissolve.''Annual Report of the Certification Officer: 2007-2008

General Secretaries

:1872: Samuel Green :1875: Samuel Midgley :1876: George Wood :1876: Edwin Kellett :1877: Briggs Shaw :1879: Joseph Kershaw :1881: Charles Ainley :1886: James Moore :1892: Sam Parker :1895: James Farrar :1897: John Garner :1898: Tom Forrest :1918: James Midgley :1924: Edgar Rothery :1931: George Hall :1939: John Maude :1946: Rawden Ashton :1965: Jack Bennett :1970: Granville Priestley :1991: A. Moorhouse

References

1872 establishments in England 2008 disestablishments in England Trade unions established in 1872 Trade unions disestablished in 2008 Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Trade unions based in West Yorkshire

History

General Secretaries

Further reading

References