The National Woolsorters' Society (NWS) 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 involved in sorting wool in the United Kingdom, principally in Yorkshire.

History

The union was founded in 1889 in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, as the National Union of Woolsorters. By 1892 it had three branches and a total of 798 members. The following year, T. Grundy was elected as its general secretary, and he became known for leading campaigns against woolsorters' disease, which was later found to be caused by

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

.Arthur Marsh, Victoria Ryan and John B. Smethurst, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', vol.4, p.248 The union was affiliated to the Labour Party, and to the National Association of Unions in the Textile Trade. In 1920, the union renamed itself as the "National Woolsorters' Society", and saw its period of greatest success, membership peaking at 2,579 in 1925. It then fell to just under 2,000 and remained at this level until the 1960s, when it again began dropping. By 1980, it had only 676 members remaining, and this led it to merge into the

Association of Professional, Executive and Computer Staff The Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) was a British trade union which represented clerical and administrative employees. History The Clerks Union was formed in 1890 and later was renamed as the National ...

on 9 May.{{cite book , last1=Hoffmann , first1=Jürgen , title=A Comparison of the Trade Union Merger Process in Britain and Germany , date=2007 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=1134260164 , page=250

General Secretaries

:Edward Hatton :1893: T. Grundy :1925: Sydney Bedford :1948: Norman Newton

References

Trade unions established in 1889 Trade unions disestablished in 1980 Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Textile and clothing trade unions 1889 establishments in the United Kingdom 1980 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions based in West Yorkshire