The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) 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 electricians 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 ...

, much of its membership consisting of wiring fitters and telephone engineers.

History

Early history

The union was founded in 1889 with the merger of the Union of Electrical Operatives, a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based union formed in 1868, and the Amalgamated Society of Telegraph and Telephone Construction Men, 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 ...

. Initially, the union had 570 members,Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, ''Historical Directory of British Trade Unions'', vol.2, pp.33-34 most of whom were employees of the

National Telephone Company The National Telephone Company (NTC) was a British telephone company from 1881 until 1911 which brought together smaller local companies in the early years of the telephone. Under the Telephone Transfer Act 1911 it was taken over by the General P ...

. Its first part-time secretary, elected at the inaugural conference in 1890, was Dick Steadman. The National Telephone Company's

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

office was known for poor working conditions and, in 1891, an ETU branch was formed there, led by Alfred Ewer. After failed negotiations, the union began a strike, but this collapsed after five weeks. The remaining strikers were sacked, although the union helped them find them work elsewhere. In response, the union decided to appoint its first full-time general secretary; Arthur Walker was elected unopposed. He raised concerns that the union was unable to meet its commitments to out-of-work benefits to members. The became an immediate problem with a downturn in trade the following year; union membership peaked at 1,183 that year but then began to fall. The executive decided to institute a levy of three pennies per member per week in order to make up a shortfall, but this just led to more members leaving, and membership fell to only 402 in 1894. Walker was forced to resign after stealing union funds, and Steadman replaced him on a temporary basis. Steadman was unable to solve the union's problems, and membership reached an all-time low of 236 members at the end of 1895. Francis Sims was elected as a full-time general secretary, in a final attempt to turn its fortunes around. He undertook a tour of the UK, attempting to form new branches and strengthen existing ones. While this produced mixed results, membership began to recover, and a successful strike in Bolton in 1899, and an agreement signed with Sheffield Town Council in 1900 further improved his reputation. However, the following year, he too was found to have embezzled union funds, leading to his imprisonment for six months. On release, he tried to set up a breakaway union, the Electrical Wiremen's Union, but this failed to grow and was disbanded in 1903. Alfred Ewer was elected as Sims' replacement, and the union joined the

Federation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades 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 ...

in 1906. Ewer's time in office was marked by conflict between the London-based executive and the provincial branches, culminating in a vote in 1907 to move the head office to Manchester. He disappeared in May 1907, and was later found to have emigrated to Australia without informing his wife or friends, having stolen £144 of union funds.

Growth under Rowan

Jimmy Rowan James Rowan (7 October 1871 – 5 January 1944)''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995'' was a British trade union leader. Born in Rochdale,''The Labour Who's Who'' (1924), p.146 Rowan bega ...

, the union's national organiser, was elected as Ewer's replacement, and he ultimately served until 1941. He and oversaw rapid growth in the union; from 1,500 members in 1907, it grew to more than 80,000 on his retirement. In 1918, the union balloted its members on joining the new

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 ...

, but this was not approved. The early 1920s proved a difficult time for the union, and Rowan negotiated a merger with 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 ...

, but this too was rejected by the membership.

Walter Citrine Walter McLennan Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine, (22 August 1887 – 22 January 1983) was one of the leading British and international trade unionists of the twentieth century and a notable public figure. Yet, apart from his renowned guide to the co ...

was appointed as an assistant general secretary of the union in 1920, and transformed its finances, making the reputation which led to his later appointment as

General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress The General Secretary of the TUC is the chief permanent officer of the Trades Union Congress, and a major figurehead in the trade union movement in the United Kingdom. The Secretary is responsible for the effective operation of the TUC and for lead ...

Communism and anti-communism

Rowan was known for his anti-communism but, despite this, members of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

(CPGB) became prominent in the union under his leadership; by the 1950s, both General Secretary and General President were CPGB members. The ETU was known to have enjoyed close contacts with the London branch of the Caribbean Labour Congress led by communist activist Billy Strachan. In June 1961, the ETU was taken to court for "conspiracy to defraud" by the union leadership. After its leader Jock Byrne suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

Frank Chapple Frank Chapple, Baron Chapple (8 August 1921 – 19 October 2004) was general secretary of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU), a leading British trade union. Frank Chapple was born in the slum area of ...

became the union's leader in 1966. Unusually for a union leader at the time, Chapple espoused

free-market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

thinking, and he aimed to rid his union of

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

s; his former union - the ETU had been run by communists. He was a "reluctant loyalist" to the Labour Party. The union went on to advocate

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of state-owned industries and membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Merger

In July 1968, the ETU merged with the

Plumbing Trades Union The Plumbing Trades Union (PTU) was a trade union representing plumbers in Britain and Ireland. History The union was founded in 1865, when the Manchester Plumbers' Society and the Liverpool Plumbers' Society merged with small organisations ...

to form 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 ...

Election results

The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in several Parliamentary elections. {, class="wikitable sortable" ! Election !! Constituency !! Candidate !! Votes !! Percentage !! Position , - , 1945 general election , ,

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Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five ...

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Office holders

General Secretaries

:1890: Dick Steadman :1891: Arthur Walker :1894: Dick Steadman (acting) :1895: Francis Sims :1900: Alfred Ewer :1907: James Rowan :1941:

Ernest Bussey Ernest William Bussey (9 December 1891 – 16 July 1958) was a British trade union leader. Bussey grew up in West Ham and qualified as an electrical engineer. He worked for the West Ham Corporation, then for London County Council. He al ...

:1948: Walter Stevens :1955: Frank Haxell :1961: Jock Byrne :1966:

General Presidents

:1890: Arthur Walker :1891: Thomas Cannon :1894: G. Montague :1896: J. Hart :1898: Joe Pearce :1899: Bill Gooday :1901: Fred O'donoghue :1904: Jack Pearce :1906: George Dibdin :1907: S. Morris :1908: Jack Ball :1931:

:1941: Hugh Bolton :1945: Frank Foulkes :1962: Les Cannon

References

External links

Catalogue of the ETU archives
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...

Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom 1889 establishments in the United Kingdom 1968 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions established in 1889 Trade unions disestablished in 1968 Electricians' trade unions Trade unions based in Greater Manchester