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 (2020� ...

,
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:

:1935:

: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