The Cumberland Miners' Association 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 ( ...

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 ...

. The union was founded in 1872 as the West Cumberland Miners' Association, with its aims being the establishment of an

eight-hour day The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses. An eight-hour work day has its origins in the 16 ...

, and improved safety. In 1906, it removed "West" from its name. Never a large organisation, in 1910 it had 6,326 members, based in

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

and

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

. Its executive became dominated by the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

, and it thereby came to have considerable influence in elections in the county, with most Labour Party candidates being union members. In its early years, the union was a member of the

Amalgamated Association of Miners The Amalgamated Association of Miners (AAM) was formed in 1869 in Lancashire, at a time of increasing industrial conflict in the British coalfields. History The union was founded by Thomas Halliday and William Pickard, two miners' union agents who ...

; it later affiliated to the

Miners Federation of Great Britain The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was established after a meeting of local mining trade unions in Newport, Wales in 1888. The federation was formed to represent and co-ordinate the affairs of local and regional miners' unions in Engla ...

. In 1945, the CMA became the Cumberland Area of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), with less autonomy than before. By the 1970s, it was the smallest area of the union, By the end of the miners' strike in 1985, its area contained only one pit and around 150 members.Martin Adeney and John Lloyd, ''The Miner's Strike 1984-85'', p.268 Later in the decade, it merged with the Lancashire Area of the NUM to form the North West Area.

General Secretaries

:1872: Andrew Sharp :1916:

Thomas Cape Thomas Cape MBE (5 October 1868 in Cockermouth, Cumberland – 1947) was the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Workington from 1918 to 1945. Before entering the House of Commons, Thomas Cape, son of William Cape, worked as a miner for t ...

:c. 1939: Tom Stephenson :1960: Maurice Rowe :c. 1975: Harry Hanlon :c. 1980: W. S. Proud

References

{{National Union of Mineworkers (UK) Mining trade unions National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) Politics of Cumbria 1872 establishments in England Mining in Cumbria Trade unions established in 1872 Trade unions based in Cumbria

General Secretaries

See also

References