The Scottish Lace and Textile Workers' Union 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 textile workers in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

History

The union was founded in 1890 as the Newmilns and District Textile Workers' Union and Friendly Benefit Society, a local union representing twisthands in the

Newmilns Newmilns is a village in the burgh of Newmilns and Greenholm, in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a population of 3,057 people (2001 census) and lies on the A71, around seven miles east of Kilmarnock and twenty-five miles southwest of Glasgow. I ...

area of

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

in Scotland. It gradually grew, reaching 430 members in 1906, and more than 1,000 by 1910. In 1916, the union renamed itself as the Scottish Lace and Textile Workers' Union, claiming the right to organise textile workers across Scotland. It did increase its membership to around 2,000, and it joined the British Lace Operatives' Federation. While it tended to dominate the activities of the federation, the English Amalgamated Society of Operative Lace Makers was of similar size. However, in 1971, the Operative Lace Makers merged into the National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers. The Scottish union decided to remain an independent union, dissolving the federation and affiliating with the General Federation of Trade Unions and the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation from the English and Welsh T ...

(STUC). It was one of the last two Scottish industrial unions affiliated to the STUC, alongside the Scottish Carpet Workers' Union. By 1982, the union had only 942 members, based in

Darvel Darvel ( sco, Dairvel, gd, Darbhail) is a small town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is at the eastern end of the Loudoun, Irvine Valley and is sometimes referred to as "The Lang Toon" ( en, the Long Town). The town's Latin motto, , means "No ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

and

. The following year, it merged into the GMB, its former members in 1991 being moved into the union's new Clothing and Textiles Section.{{cite book , last1=Waddington , first1=Jeremy , last2=Kahmann , first2=Marcus , last3=Hoffmann , first3=Jürgen , title=A Comparison of the Trade Union Merger Process in Britain and Germany: Joining forces? , series=Routledge Research in Employment Relations , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Klj7lm7311oC , year= , publisher=

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, location=Abingdon , isbn=0-415-35378-5 , page=159

General Secretaries

: George Girvan :1935: Robert Calderwood :1940: George Girvan :1950s: H. Morton :1965: W. Dempster :1970: Bob Connell :1978: Jimmy McChristie

References

Defunct trade unions of Scotland Textile and clothing trade unions 1890 establishments in the United Kingdom 1983 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions established in 1890 Trade unions disestablished in 1983 GMB (trade union) amalgamations