Iron and Steel Trades Confederation
Merged intoCommunity
Founded1 January 1917 (1917-01-01)
Dissolved2004
HeadquartersSwinton House, Gray's Inn Road, London[1]
Location
Members
110,000 (1978)[2]
PublicationISTC Banner[1]
AffiliationsTUC, CSEU, Labour, STUC
Websitewww.istc-tu.org

The Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) was a British trade union for metal-workers and allied groups, being the largest union in these fields.[1] It was formed on 1 January 1917 as a merger of existing steel-workers' unions and it is now part of Community.

History

In 1917 Minister of Labour, John Hodge passed the Trade Unions' Amalgamation Act, which simplified the process whereby Trade Unions merged, amalgamated or federated. This was in response to both the difficulty of mergers under the previous legislation (requiring two-thirds majorities in favor in all participant unions), as well as a desire to push craft unions into general trade unions to cover entire industries.[3] However, difficulties still remained. When the first three members federated in 1917,[4] they were legally prevented from accepting any new members. The ISTC focused on industrial negotiations, and new members joined its subsidiary, the British Iron, Steel and Kindred Trades Association (BISAKTA); formally, unions which federated after 1917 joined this association.[5]

Trade unions that have amalgamated with or transferred engagements to the ISTC or BISAKTA and year it occurred:

The resultant union was named the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation. Members of the Amalgamated Association of Steel and Iron Workers of Great Britain and of the Tin and Sheet Millmens' Association voted against joining the union, but were later reballoted and voted in favour.[1] The Wire Workers Union joined the confederation in 1922 but left in 1924, rejoining in 1991. Other members left in 1924 to form the Constructional Engineering Union.[5]

From the 1980s, employment in the metalworking trades was in sharp decline, and membership of the ISTC dropped in line with this.[1] In 1984, the existing ISTC was legally absorbed by BISAKTA, which took on the ISTC name.[5]

In later years the union also built up representation amongst workers in the electronics industry, plastics and glass, the manufacture of kitchen furniture, carpet production, and call centres. Expansion was especially strong in areas with major steel industry installations.

Responding to the contraction of the British manufacturing sector, the ISTC expanded into new areas in 2000. Both the NLBD and PLCWTWU pre-dating the ISTC having been formed as a trade union in 1899 and 1866 respectively.[6]

In 2004, the ISTC merged with the National Union of Knitwear, Footwear & Apparel Trades (KFAT) to form a new organisation called Community.

Election results

The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in each Parliamentary election.

Election Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position
1918 general election Kidderminster John Baker 9,760 42.0 2[7]
Manchester Gorton John Hodge 13,047 67.4 1[7]
Pontypool Thomas Griffiths 8,348 38.8 1[7]
Rotherham James Walker 9,757 38.1 2[7]
1922 general election Bilston John Baker 10,392 45.8 2[8]
Manchester Gorton John Hodge 15,058 53.6 1[8]
Pontypool Thomas Griffiths 11,198 40.6 1[8]
Rotherham James Walker 16,449 49.0 2[8]
Walsall Robert Dennison 8,946 23.6 3[8]
1923 general election Bilston John Baker 9,085 37.1 2[9]
Cleveland Robert Dennison 9,683 27.8 3[9]
Pontypool Thomas Griffiths 13,770 50.6 1[9]
1924 general election Bilston John Baker 14,583 53.2 1[10]
Birmingham King's Norton Robert Dennison 10,497 43.3 1[10]
Pontypool Thomas Griffiths 15,378 52.6 1[10]
1929 general election Bilston John Baker 18,679 50.8 1[11]
Birmingham King's Norton Robert Dennison 13,973 40.6 2[11]
Eccles David Mort 20,489 49.8 1[11]
Newport James Walker 18,653 39.5 1[11]
Pontypool Thomas Griffiths 17,805 51.5 1[11]
1931 general election Bilston John Baker 16,847 44.9 2[12]
Eccles David Mort 16,101 38.2 2[12]
Newport James Walker 19,238 40.9 2[12]
Pontypool Thomas Griffiths 18,981 56.3 1[12]
1935 general election Bilston David Mort 17,820 48.8 2[13]
Motherwell James Walker 14,755 50.7 1[13]
1940 by-election Swansea East David Mort unopposed N/A 1
1945 general election Bolton Jack Jones 44,595 24.0 1[14]
Swansea East David Mort 19,127 75.8 1[14]
1950 general election Rotherham Jack Jones 31,211 64.4 1[15]
Swansea East David Mort 32,680 75.3 1[15]
1951 general election Rotherham Jack Jones 31,124 65.6 1[16]
Swansea East David Mort 32,790 73.6 1[16]
1955 general election Rotherham Jack Jones 27,423 63.3 1[17]
Swansea East David Mort 28,198 72.4 1[17]
1959 general election Rotherham Jack Jones 28,298 62.8 1[18]
Swansea East David Mort 29,884 67.5 1[18]
1964 general election Neath Donald Coleman 29,692 73.4 1[19]
1966 general election Neath Donald Coleman 31,183 79.9 1[20]
1968 by-election Sheffield Brightside Edward Griffiths 14,179 55.2 1[20]
1970 general election Neath Donald Coleman 28,378 71.4 1[21]
Sheffield Brightside Edward Griffiths 23,941 72.2 1[21]
Feb 1974 general election Halesowen and Stourbridge Dennis Turner 22,465 33.8 2[22]
Neath Donald Coleman 25,351 62.3 1[22]
Sheffield Brightside Edward Griffiths 27,363 68.4 1[22]
Oct 1974 general election Halesowen and Stourbridge Dennis Turner 23,637 37.6 2[23]
Neath Donald Coleman 25,028 61.4 1[23]
1979 general election Kettering William Homewood 31,579 45.0 1[22]
Neath Donald Coleman 27,071 64.5 1[22]
1983 general election Corby William Homewood 17,659 36.1 2[22]
Neath Donald Coleman 22,670 53.6 1
1987 general election Enfield North Martin Upham 14,743 28.5 2
Neath Donald Coleman 27,612 63.4 1
Newport West Paul Flynn 20,887 46.1 1

General Secretaries

1917: Arthur Pugh
1936: John Brown
1946: Lincoln Evans
1953: Harry Douglass
1967: Dai Davies
1975: Bill Sirs
1985: Roy Evans
1993: Keith Brookman
1999: Michael J. Leahy

Assistant General Secretaries

1935: John Brown
1936: Lincoln Evans
1945: Harry Douglass
1953: Dai Davies
1967: Jim Diamond
1973: Bill Sirs
1975: Roy Evans
1985: Keith Brookman
1993: Michael J. Leahy
1999: Eddie Lynch
2004: Roy Rickhuss

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Eaton, Jack; Gill, Colin (1981). The Trade Union Directory. London: Pluto Press. pp. 138–145. ISBN 0861043502.
  2. ^ Yves Mény, The Politics of Steel, p. 323.
  3. ^ Men of Steel, Iron Steel Trades Confederation, p. 245.
  4. ^ Rodney Mace (1999). British Trade Union Posters: An Illustrated History. Sutton Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 0750921587.
  5. ^ a b c University of Warwick Modern Records Centre, "Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC), the British Iron, Steel and Kindred Trades Association (BISAKTA) and predecessors, (1865)-2004".
  6. ^ The Carpet Weavers of Kidderminster. Arthur MarshMalthouse Press Oxford, p. 74.
  7. ^ a b c d Pugh, Arthur (1951). Men of Steel. London: Iron and Steel Trades Confederation. pp. 153–154, 283.
  8. ^ a b c d e Labour Party, Report of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 255–272. Note that this list is of the sanctioned candidates as of June 1922, and there were some changes between this date and the general election.
  9. ^ a b c Pugh, Arthur (1951). Men of Steel. London: Iron and Steel Trades Confederation. pp. 371, 380.
  10. ^ a b c Labour Party, Annual Report of the Labour Party Conference (1928), pp. 275–281. Note that this is a list of affiliations of Labour MPs as of September 1928, and it is possible that some MPs held different sponsorship as of the 1924 election.
  11. ^ a b c d e Pugh, Arthur (1951). Men of Steel. Iron and Steel Trades Confederation. p. 443.
  12. ^ a b c d Annual Report of the Labour Party: 11–27. 1931. ((cite journal)): Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ^ a b "List of Endorsed Labour Candidates and Election Results, November 14, 1935". Annual Report of the Labour Party: 8–23. 1935.
  14. ^ a b Labour Party, Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 232–248.
  15. ^ a b "List of Parliamentary Labour candidates and election results, February 23rd, 1950". Report of the Forty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party: 179–198. 1950.
  16. ^ a b Labour Party, Report of the Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 184–203.
  17. ^ a b Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 255–275.
  18. ^ a b Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 179–201.
  19. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 158–180.
  20. ^ a b Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 308–330.
  21. ^ a b Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 289–312.
  22. ^ a b c d e f Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 371–390.
  23. ^ a b Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 391–411.

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