Stockport Card, Blowing and Ring Room Operatives' Association was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing cotton industry workers in the

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

area of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

in England. The union was founded in 1859, shortly after the Bolton Cardroom Association, the two being the oldest unions of cardroom workers to endure. In its early years, the union organised only strippers and grinders, and was only open to men. This caused problems in 1867 when women workers, who were not permitted to join the union, agreed to accept a 5 per cent cut in wages. As a result, the union lost a strike against a 10 per cent cut in its own members' wages. The union was a founder constituent of the Cardroom Amalgamation in 1886, but at the time it had only 91 members, despite having broaden its base by becoming the Stockport Association of Card and Blowing Room Operatives, Ring and Throstle Spinners. However, this proved the start of a rapid growth in membership, which reached 670 by 1892, 1,023 in 1895, and 1,835 in 1908. The union had adopted the name Stockport Card, Blowing and Ring Room Operatives' Association by 1919, and its membership continued growing, peaking at 3,349 in 1936, at which time it was the fifth-largest union of cardroom workers. It changed its name again, to the Stockport Card and Ring Spinning Room Operatives' Association. Membership of the union declined in line with employment in the Lancashire cotton industry, and in 1967 it merged with the Hyde and District Card, Blowing and Ring Frame Operatives' Association and the South East Lancashire Provincial Card and Blowing Room Operatives' Association, forming the South East Lancashire and Cheshire Textile Operatives' Association.

General Secretaries

:F. Parker :1916:

Joseph Frayne Joseph Dominic Frayne (26 February 1882 – 11 December 1942) was a British trade union leader, who served as President of the Cardroom Amalgamation and Chair of the General Federation of Trade Unions. Frayne was born in Reddish and worked f ...

:1944: D. A. Mainds :1957: J. McKenzie

References

{{UTFWA Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Stockport Cotton industry trade unions 1859 establishments in England 1967 disestablishments in England Trade unions established in 1859 Trade unions disestablished in 1967 Trade unions based in Greater Manchester