The National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers (NUHKW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom.
History
The union was founded in 1945, with the merger of five local unions: the Hinckley and District Hosiery Union, Ilkeston and District Hosiery Union, Leicester and Leicestershire Amalgamated Hosiery Union, Loughborough Federated Hosiery Union and Nottingham and District Hosiery Workers' Society. Shortly after, most Scottish unions voted to join the new organisation.NUHKW - National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers, Community (trade union) page archived at web.archive.org Sections were also created for northern and southern England and, by the end of the year, it had 22,430 members. The following year, it secured a national agreement limiting night work and restricting total working to 45 hours per week.National Union of Hosiery & Knitwear Workers, Knitting Together
District Membership in December 1945 Hinckley 4,425 Ilkeston 5,015 Leicester 4,578 Loughborough 1,600 Northern 340 Nottingham 3,544 Scottish 2,424 Southern 504
In 1970, a threat of national strike action secured a 10% wage increase and the abandonment of plans for a continuous shift system. Membership of the union continued to grow, reaching a peak of 74,077 in 1977.
In 1969, the Nottingham Hosiery Finishers' Association amalgamated with the union, becoming its Nottingham (Finishers) District.Richard Stevens, "Charlesworth, John James", Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol.X, pp.42–47 This was followed by the Leicester and Leicestershire Trimmers' and Auxiliary Association in 1970, and then all the other minor unions in the industry. The long-established Amalgamated Society of Operative Lace Makers and Textile Workers also joined. However, widespread redundancies in the sector began reducing membership. In 1991, it merged with the National Union of Footwear, Leather and Allied Trades, with 34,183 members remaining to join the new National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades.
Leadership General Presidents 1945: Horace Moulden 1963: George Dearing 1968: Peter Pendergast 1975: Harold Gibson 1982: David Lambert
General Secretaries 1945: Clifford Groocock 1960: George Dearing 1963: Harold GibsonThe Who's Who Of Radical Leicester retrieved 2012-05-28 1975: David Lambert"Hosiery and Knitwear union ballots members...", Tribune 1981-05-08, retrieved 2012-05-28 1982: George MarshallKnitwear leader dies Tribune (magazine) 1984-05-18, retrieved 2012-05-28] 1984: Tom KirkKnitwear post, Glasgow Herald 1984-06-12, retrieved 2012-05-28 1989: Helen McGrath
Further reading Richard Gurnham A History of the TRADE UNION MOVEMENT in the HOSIERY and KNITWEAR INDUSTRY 1776-1976 (NUHKW, Leicester 1976) Bramwell G Rudd COURTAULDS and the HOSIERY & KNITWEAR INDUSTRY (Carnegie Publishing Ltd) (2014, ISBN softback 978-1-905472-06-2, hardback 978-1-905472-18-5)
References
External links Catalogue of the NUHKW archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick