Activity
|
The Amalgamated Engineering Union had it origins in the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE), formed in 1851 by the union of a number of existing societies, and later joined by numerous other, mostly local, trade unions. In the early years of the twentieth century trades unions in general were seeking to obtain greater bargaining strength - something which might most readily be done by increasing membership and by improving and simplifying organizational structure. The demands and problems of wartime and post-war working helped to urge this process along: militancy amongst the ASE and other engineering unions increased during the First World War and strengthened further immediately afterwards; ASE membership almost doubled during the war; the local branches of different engineering unions that had merged their operations during the war, tended not to go their separate ways once the war had ended. All these factors led to the joining together of the ASE and nine smaller unions in 1920. This large-scale amalgamation was followed by a change of name for the enlarged union, which now became the Amalgamated Engineering Union. Women were first admitted to the union in 1943. A number of other mergers followed, most notably that with the Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers in 1967, which brought about a change of name to the Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers (AUEFW). The Draughtsmen and Allied Technicians' Association and the Constructional Engineering Union merged with the Union in 1970, and from the following year this new body was known as the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (AUEW). This larger union was to be made up of four sections: Technical, Administrative and Supervisory; Constructional; Foundry; and Engineering. The 1970 merger proved not to be an unmitigated success. Further reorganization saw the Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS) leave the amalgamation and the remaining sections form the Amalgamated Engineering Union in May 1986. The AEU merged with the Electrical, Electronic Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU) in May 1992, to create the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU). The AEEU is at present (2003) closely associated with the Manufacturing Science Finance union (MSF) and a merger between the two unions, under the name Amicus, is to come into effect in 2004. During this period of association both bodies have used Amicus as a prefix to their names, styling themselves Amicus-AEEU and Amicus-MSF respectively. MSF was created in 1988 when TASS, formerly of the AUEW, united with the Association of Scientific,Technical, and Managerial Staff (ASTMS).
|