The Association of Scientific Workers (AScW) 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 ...

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 ...

. It was founded as the National Union of Scientific Workers in 1918, changing its name to the Association of Scientific Workers in 1927. The union largely represented laboratory and technical workers in universities, the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

and in chemical and metal manufacturing. It was the union for

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...

s with a conscience, and could name half-a-dozen

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winners amongst its membership. The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

was also a member. In 1969 AScW merged with the ASSET (

Association of Supervisory Staff, Executives and Technicians The Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Technicians (ASSET), was a British trade union, chiefly representing supervisors in the metal working and transport industries. It was formed from the National Foremen's Association, fou ...

) to form ASTMS (the

Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs The Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) was a British trade union which existed between 1969 and 1988. History The ASTMS was created in 1969 when ASSET (the Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Techn ...

)

General Secretaries

:1918: Norman Campbell :1920:

Archibald Church Major Archibald George Church (7 September 1886 – 23 August 1954) was a British school teacher, soldier and Labour Party then National Labour politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leyton East from 1923 to 1924, and for ...

:1931: :1935: William Alfred Wooster :1945: Roy Innes :1949:

Ted Ainley Theodore Herzl Ainley (3 October 1903 – 19 March 1968) was a British trade union leader and communist activist. Born Theodore Abrahamson in Cheetham, in Manchester, he was educated at a Jewish school, leaving when he was thirteen, to und ...

:1951: Ben Smith :1954: John Dutton

Literature

* Roy MacLeod, Kay MacLeod: ''The Contradictions of Professionalism: Scientists, Trade Unionism and the First World War'', in: Social Studies of Science, Vol. 9, No. 1, European Issue (Feb., 1979), pp. 1–32

External links

Catalogue of the AScW 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 1918 establishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions established in 1918 Trade unions disestablished in 1968 Trade unions based in London {{UK-org-stub