# General Federation of Trade Unions (UK)

The General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) is a national trade union centre in the United Kingdom. It has 35 affiliates with a membership of just over 214,000 and describes itself as the "federation for specialist unions".

## History

In the 1890s, the development of socialist organisations and socialist thinking also found expression in the British trade union movement. Many of the new unions formed during that period were committed to the socialist transformation of society and were critical of the conservatism of the craft unions. The debate revolved around concept of building "one-big-union" which would have the resources to embark on a militant course of action and even change society. This thinking gained strength after the 1897 Engineering Employers Federation lockout which resulted in a defeat for engineering workers.
The view that it was necessary to develop a strong, centralised trade union organisation by forming a federation, which had been rejected only two years earlier, was now endorsed at the Trades Union Congress of September 1897. This resulted in the establishment of the General Federation of Trade Unions at a special Congress of the TUC in 1899, the principal objective of which was to set up a national organisation with a strike fund which could be drawn upon by affiliated trade unions.
GFTU participated in the foundation of the International Federation of Trade Unions at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam in July 1919.
The federation has seen a large turnover of members, due largely to mergers in the movement. In 1979, its members were:
* Amalgamated Association of Beamers, Twisters and Drawers
* Amalgamated Felt Hat Trimers', Woolformers' and Allied Workers' Union
* Amalgamated Society of Journeymen Felt Hatters and Allied Workers
* Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union
* Amalgamated Union of Asphalt Workers
* Associated Metalworkers' Union
* Card Setting Machine Tenters' Society
* Ceramic and Allied Trades Union
* Cloth Pressers' Society
* Furniture, Timber and Allied Trades Union
* General Union of Associations of Loom Overlookers
* Hinckley Dyers' and Auxiliary Association
* Huddersfield Healders and Twisters Trade and Friendly Society
* Jewel Case and Jewellery Display Makers' Union
* Lancashire Amalgamated Tape Sizers' Association
* Lancashire Box, Packing Case and General Woodworkers' Society
* National Association of Licensed House Managers
* National Society of Brushmakers and General Workers
* National Society of Metal Mechanics
* National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers
* National Union of Lock and Metal Workers
* National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers
* Nelson and District Association of Preparatory Workers
* Northern Carpet Trade Union
* Nottingham and District Dyers' and Bleachers' Association
* Rossendale Union of Boot, Shoe and Slipper Operatives
* Scottish Lace and Textile Workers' Union
* Screw, Nut, Bolt and Rivet Trade union
* Society of Shuttlemakers
* Tobacco Mechanics' Association
* Yorkshire Society of Textile Craftsmen
By 2016, none of the 1979 members remained as independent unions.

## Current role

The GFTU now concentrates on servicing the needs of specialist unions. It does this by providing courses, undertaking research for its affiliated Unions and administering a Pension Scheme for officials and staff of affiliated Unions. In keeping with its original objectives, the Federation pays dispute benefit in appropriate cases to affiliated Unions.
The Governing Body is the Biennial General Council Meeting, attended by delegates from affiliated Unions, at which policy and rule changes are debated and an Executive Committee of 14 members elected to meet on a monthly basis between Biennial General Council Meetings.
The Federation undertakes its Parliamentary activities by working closely with John Mann MP, Member of Parliament Bassetlaw constituency, particularly in respect of proposed legislation.

## Affiliated unions

* Aegis the Union
* Artists' Union England
* Association of Educational Psychologists
* Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union
* Communication Workers' Union
* Community
* Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations of the United Nations System
* Equal Justice The Union
* Gibraltar General and Clerical Association
* Hospital Consultants' and Specialists' Association
* Napo
* Nautilus International
* NHBC Staff Association
* Pharmacists' Defence Association
* POA
* Professional Cricketers' Association
* Professional Footballers' Association
* Psychotherapy and Counselling Union
* Public and Commercial Services Union
* Social Workers' Union
* Society of Union Employees
* Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA)
* Workers' Educational Association

## General Secretaries

    1899: Isaac Mitchell
    1907: William A. Appleton
    1938: George Bell
    1953: Leslie Hodgson
    1978: Peter Potts
    1991: Michael Bradley
    2010: Doug Nicholls
    2023: Gawain Little

## Chairs

| Year | Name | Union |
| 1899 | Pete Curran | National Union of Gasworkers and General Labourers |
| 1910 | Allan Gee | General Union of Weavers and Textile Workers |
| 1912 | James O'Grady | National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades Association |
| 1918 | Joseph Cross | Amalgamated Weavers' Association |
| 1920 | Thomas Mallalieu | Amalgamated Society of Journeymen Felt Hatters |
| 1922 | Alfred Short | National Union of Docks, Wharves and Shipping Staffs |
| 1924 | Fred Birchenough | Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners and Twiners |
| 1926 | Alex Hutchison | National Union of Stove Grate Workers |
| 1928 | John Sime | Dundee and District Union of Jute and Flax Workers |
| 1930 | Charles Kean | Wallpaper Workers' Union |
| 1932 | William Aucock | National Society of Pottery Workers |
| 1934 | William Saxon | Amalgamated Machine, Engine and Iron Grinders' and Glazers' Society |
| 1936 | Joseph Frayne | Amalgamated Association of Card and Blowing and Ring Room Operatives |
| 1938 | Andrew Naesmith | Amalgamated Weavers' Association |
| 1940 | John Lee | Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen's Association |
| 1942 | Albert Taylor | Rossendale Union of Boot, Shoe and Slipper Operatives |
| 1944 | Horace Moulden | National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers |
| 1946 | Frank Dickinson | Yorkshire Association of Power Loom Overlookers |
| 1948 | Fred Worthington | Felt Hatters' and Trimmers' Unions of Great Britain |
| 1950 | Albert Knowles | Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners and Twiners |
| 1952 | Archie Robertson | National Association of Card, Blowing and Ring Room Operatives |
| 1954 | Cecil Heap | Wallpaper Workers' Union |
| 1956 | Bert Head | Chain Makers' and Strikers' Association |
| 1958 | Jack Wigglesworth | Iron, Steel and Metal Dressers' Society |
| 1959 | Alf Tomkins | National Union of Furniture Trade Operatives |
| 1961 | Robert Driver | Rossendale Union of Boot, Shoe and Slipper Operatives |
| 1963 | Fred Titherington | General Union of Associations of Loom Overlookers |
| 1964 | Leonard Jackson | National Society of Pottery Workers |
| 1965 | James W. Whitworth | Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners and Twiners |
| 1966 | Edwin D. Sleeman | Yorkshire Association of Power Loom Overlookers |
| 1967 | Robert Doyle | Union of Jute, Flax and Kindred Textile Operatives |
| 1968 | F. C. Henry | Waterproof Garment Workers' Trade Union |
| 1969 | Fred Hague | Amalgamated Weavers' Association |
| 1970 | Jim Browning | National Union of Textile and Allied Workers |
| 1971 | Arthur Howcroft | General Union of Associations of Loom Overlookers |
| 1972 | Ken Arnold | Ceramic and Allied Trades Union |
| 1973 | Edward Tullock | Associated Metalworkers' Union |
| 1974 | Harold Gibson | National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers |
| 1975 | Tom Whittaker | Rossendale Union of Boot, Shoe and Slipper Operatives |
| 1976 | Margaret Fenwick | Union of Jute, Flax and Kindred Textile Operatives |
| 1977 | D. Hill | Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers and Engravers |
| 1978 | David Coates | Furniture, Timber and Allied Trades Union |
| 1979 | John Martin | National Union of Lock and Metal Workers |
| 1980 | Harry M. Wareham | Amalgamated Union of Asphalt Workers |
| 1981 | Leslie R. Smith | Northern Carpet Trades Union |
| 1982 | Joe Quinn | Amalgamated Textile Workers Union |
| 1983 | Anne Spencer | National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers |
| 1984 | Charles P. McCarthy | National Society of Metal Mechanics |
| 1985 | David Lambert | National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers |
| 1987 | James McChristie | GMB Union |
| 1989 | Michael Murray | Rossendale Union of Boot, Shoe and Slipper Operatives |
| 1991 | Keith Edmondson | Northern Carpet Trades Union |
| 1993 | Alfred Hitchmough | Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades |
| 1995 | Ron Marron | Associated Metalworkers Union |
| 1997 | Tony McCarthy | National Union of Domestic Appliances and General Operatives |
| 1999 | Terry Pye | Manufacturing, Science and Finance |
| 2001 | Michael J. Leahy | Community |
| 2003 | Des Farrell | GMB Union |
| 2005 | Garry Oakes | Ceramic and Allied Trades Union |
| 2007 | Doug Nicholls | Community and Youth Workers' Union |
| 2009 | Joe Marino | Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union |
| 2011 | Joe Mann | Community |
| 2013 | John Fray | National Union of Journalists |
| 2015 | Ben Marshall | Prospect |
| 2017 | John Smith | Musicians' Union |
| 2019 | Oshor Williams | Professional Footballers' Association |
| 2021 | Roy Rickhuss | Community |
| 2023 | Sarah Woolley | Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union |