The Associated Iron Moulders of Scotland (AIMS) 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 foundry workers in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The union was created in 1831 as the Scottish Iron Moulders' Union. Its founder was James Dunn, a former cotton worker who had been blacklisted for trade union activities in his own trade. He spotted a gap produced by the failure of the Scottish Iron Moulders' Friendly Society, and the new union was successful, growing to 556 members by 1834, and gaining increases of 4 shillings per week for its members.Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, ''Historical Directory of British Trade Unions'', vol.2, pp.21-22 The union attempted to restrict the number of workers in the industry by campaigning to limit the number of apprentices, and charging a fee of £5 for non-Scottish workers to join the union. Due to its high subscriptions, it was able to pay a pension of 3s 6d per week to retired members, and additional benefits including one for members who suffered accidents at work. The union adopted its final name in 1869, joining the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

in 1875. It was also an early member of 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 ...

. By the early 1910s, it had more than 7,500 members. In 1920, the union merged with the Friendly Society of Iron Founders of England, Ireland and Wales and the Amalgamated Society of Coremakers of Great Britain to form the

National Union of Foundry Workers The National Union of Foundry Workers (NUFW) was a trade union representing workers in foundries in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded in 1920 with the merger of the Associated Iron Moulders of Scotland, the Amalgamated Society ...

General Secretaries

:1831: James Dunn :McGowan{{cite book , last1=Fryth , first1=H. J. , last2=Collins , first2=Henry , title=The Foundry Workers , date=1950 , publisher=Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers , location=Manchester, pages=45–48 :1850: William Lees :1852: David Adamson :1860: Colin Steel :1866: Robert Skimming :1869: John Fraser :1879:

James Millar Jack James Millar Jack (1847 or 1848 – 28 September 1912) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. Jack came to prominence as a member of the Associated Iron Moulders of Scotland (AIMS), and was elected as its general secretary in Novem ...

:1912: John Brown :1918: James Fulton

References

External links

Catalogue of the AIMS archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick 1831 establishments in Scotland Trade unions established in the 1830s 1920 disestablishments in Scotland Foundry workers' trade unions Trade unions disestablished in 1920 Defunct trade unions of Scotland