The National Union of Wallcoverings, Decorative and Allied Trades (NUWDAT) was an
industrial union
Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...
representing workers connected with the manufacture of
wallpaper
Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so ...
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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
History
The origins of the union lay in the Wallpaper Stainers' Trade Union Federation, founded in 1917 by
Charles Kean
Charles John Kean (18 January 181122 January 1868), was an English actor and theatre manager, best known for his revivals of Shakespearean plays.
Life
Kean was born at Waterford, Ireland, a son of actor Edmund Kean and actress Mary Kean ('' ...
of the
Amalgamated Union of Engravers to Calico Printers and Paper Stainers. Two years later, two other members of the federation, the Amalgamated Society of Machine Paper Stainers and Colour Mixers of Great Britain and the Paper Stainers' Union of General Workers, agreed to merge, forming the Wallpaper Workers' Union (WPWU). The Engravers' members in the wallpaper industry appear also to have joined, and Kean resigned as secretary of that union in 1920; its remaining members, concentrated in the cotton industry, became the
United Society of Engravers of Great Britain and Ireland {{short description, Former trade union of the United Kingdom
The United Society of Engravers was a trade union representing engravers, principally in the cotton industry, but also in the paper printing industry, in the United Kingdom.
The union w ...
.
[Arthur Marsh and John B. Smethurst, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', vol.5, pp.65, 78-79]University of Warwick
, mottoeng = Mind moves matter
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £7.0 million (2021)
, budget = £698.2 million (2020â ...
,
National Union of Wallcoverings, Decorative and Allied Trades
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911050446/http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb152-mss.39/w , date=2016-09-11 "
The new union was also joined by the London Paperstainers' Trade Union and Benevolent Society, which appears to have become the core of the Wallpaper Blockprinters' Trade Union, a small union affiliated to the WPWU. The Wallpaper Blockprinters, the WPWU, and the Print Block, Roller and Stamp Cutters' Society continued to work together in the Wallpaper Stainers' Trade Union Federation and also the Wallpaper Makers' Industrial Council. This council-based strategy of negotiations with employers and avoidance of industrial action became central to the WPWU under Kean's leadership, and that of his successor,
Cecil Heap
Cecil Heap (1902 – 24 March 1967) was a British trade union leader and politician.
The son of Fred Heap, Cecil was born in Bury, then in Lancashire. In 1919, Heap began working for the Manchester, Salford and District Weavers' Association. ...
.
From the start, the WPWU represented workers in both the handmade and factory-production parts of the wallpaper industry; over time, it also recruited clerical staff and supervisors. Membership was fairly constant, from just under 3,000 in 1927, to 2,000 in the 1930s, peaking at 4,700 in 1975, then falling to 3,820 by 1979.
The collapse of the Trade Union Federation in 1951 gradually brought about a change in strategy. The Wallpaper Blockprinters was merged in to the WPWU in 1966, the same year that Duncan McIntosh became general secretary, and the Print, Block, Roller and Stamp Cutters' Society merged in 1969. In 1971, he attempted to attract more non-manual workers by creating their own affiliated union, the Wallcoverings Staff Association, but this never attracted enough members to be sustainable, and rejoined the union in 1975, which then changed its name to the "National Union of Wallcoverings, Decorative and Allied Trades".
However, McIntosh resigned in 1974, following a censure vote by the union's
Darwen
Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners".
The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...
branch.
By the 1970s, the union was considering a merger with a larger union, either
Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers and Engravers
The Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers and Engravers (SLADE) was a British trade union representing workers in the printing industry.
History
The union was formed in Manchester in 1885 as the National Society of Lithographic Artists, ...
or the
National Graphical Association
The National Graphical Association (NGA) was a trade union representing typographers and related workers in the United Kingdom.
History
The union was formed in 1964 by the merger of two long-term rival unions, the Typographical Association and ...
(NGA). In the end, it merged into the NGA in 1979.
General Secretaries
:1919:
Charles Kean
Charles John Kean (18 January 181122 January 1868), was an English actor and theatre manager, best known for his revivals of Shakespearean plays.
Life
Kean was born at Waterford, Ireland, a son of actor Edmund Kean and actress Mary Kean ('' ...
:1935:
Cecil Heap
Cecil Heap (1902 – 24 March 1967) was a British trade union leader and politician.
The son of Fred Heap, Cecil was born in Bury, then in Lancashire. In 1919, Heap began working for the Manchester, Salford and District Weavers' Association. ...
:1967: Duncan McIntosh
:1974: Bob Tomlins
References
External links
Catalogue of the NUWDAT archives held at the
Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
Trade unions established in 1919
Trade unions disestablished in 1979
Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom
1919 establishments in the United Kingdom
Printing trade unions
Trade unions based in Greater Manchester