The Cardiff, Penarth and Barry Coal Trimmers' Union was a trade union representing workers involved in trimming coal and loading on to ships, in South Wales.

History

The union was founded in 1888 as the Cardiff and Penarth Coaltrimmers' Protection and Benefit Association, representing people who worked as coal trimmers at docks in South Wales. In 1890, it gained representation on the new Trimming Board, where it agreed rates with ship owners and coal dock managers. The union affiliated to both the Cardiff Trades Council and the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

in 1897. David Jenkins described the union by this time as "by far the most influential labour organisation in Cardiff's dockland". In 1911, the union joined the seamen's strike, at which time it had about 2,000 members. This proved to be the only strike in the union's history. This gradually declined, falling to 1,692 in 1926. As one of the two main unions of coal trimmers in the UK, in 1913 the union affiliated to the

National Transport Workers' Federation The National Transport Workers' Federation (NTWF) was an association of British trade unions. It was formed in 1910 to co-ordinate the activities of various organisations catering for dockers, seamen, tramwaymen and road transport workers. Histor ...

, and its president, Joshua Thomas Clatworthy, was elected to its executive committee. The links made there led it to form the National Joint Trimmers Committee in 1920, with the

North of England Trimmers' and Teemers' Association The North of England Trimmers' and Teemers Association was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was formed in 1871 and merged with the Tyne and Blyth association in 1902. It had 1,500 members in 1908, increasing to 1,913 in 1915. Tri ...

, and other transport unions which represented trimmers in Scotland and southern England. Clatworthy became the leading union member on the joint committee. In later years, the union was often known as the Cardiff Coal Trimmers' Association. By 1967, it had only 99 members, and it merged into the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

Election results

The union affiliated to the Labour Party, and at the

1918 UK general election The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sent ...

it sponsored its president as a candidate. {, class="wikitable sortable" ! Constituency !! Candidate !! Votes !! % !! Position Labour Party, ''Report of the Executive Committee'' (1918), pp.115 , - , Cardiff South , , {{sortname, Joshua Thomas, Clatworthy, nolink=1 , , 4,303 , , 26.3 , , 2

General Secretaries

:1888: Samuel Fisher :1932: Joshua Thomas Clatworthy :1946: A. W. Loxton

References

Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Port workers' trade unions Transport and General Workers' Union amalgamations Trade unions established in 1888 Trade unions disestablished in 1967 Trade unions in Wales