Pattern Weavers' Society

The Pattern Weavers' Society was a small trade union representing textile workers in the United Kingdom.

Pattern Weavers' Society
Founded1930
Date dissolvedc.2000
Members350 (1931)
AffiliationNAUTT, TUC
Key peopleGordon Hawley (gen. sec.)
Office locationNew Field End, Cumberworth[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom

During the 1920s, workers employed in weaving patterned material were represented by the National Union of Textile Workers. However, with a trade depression starting at the end of the decade, employers were looking to cut wages, and the pattern weavers believed that they would have a stronger bargaining position if they were represented separately from workers they felt to be lower skilled.[2]

The society was established in 1930, and within a year had 350 members. However, membership gradually declined as the industry contracted, falling to 250 members by 1968, and 100 in 1979.[2] It joined the Trades Union Congress in 1968,[3] but disaffiliated in 1987.[4] It continued in existence, and for the first time accepted a woman as a member. By 1993, its membership was down to 60,[2] and it appears to have dissolved around the year 2000.

General Secretaries
1940s: A. Kelk
1960s: Willie Lockwood
1960s: J. D. Townend
c.1980: Gordon Hawley
1990s: David Mellor

References
  1. Eaton, Jack; Gill, Colin (1981). The Trade Union Directory. London: Pluto Press. p. 181. ISBN 0861043502.
  2. Arthur Marsh, Victoria Ryan and John B. Smethurst, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.4, p.249
  3. Annual Report of the 1968 Trades Union Congress, p.141
  4. Roger Undy, Managing the Unions, pp.298-300
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