Iron and Steel Trades Confederation

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.

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

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.

ElectionConstituencyCandidateVotesPercentagePosition
1918 general electionKidderminsterJohn Baker9,76042.02[7]
Manchester GortonJohn Hodge13,04767.41[7]
PontypoolThomas Griffiths8,34838.81[7]
RotherhamJames Walker9,75738.12[7]
1922 general electionBilstonJohn Baker10,39245.82[8]
Manchester GortonJohn Hodge15,05853.61[8]
PontypoolThomas Griffiths11,19840.61[8]
RotherhamJames Walker16,44949.02[8]
WalsallRobert Dennison8,94623.63[8]
1923 general electionBilstonJohn Baker9,08537.12[9]
ClevelandRobert Dennison9,68327.83[9]
PontypoolThomas Griffiths13,77050.61[9]
1924 general electionBilstonJohn Baker14,58353.21[10]
Birmingham King's NortonRobert Dennison10,49743.31[10]
PontypoolThomas Griffiths15,37852.61[10]
1929 general electionBilstonJohn Baker18,67950.81[11]
Birmingham King's NortonRobert Dennison13,97340.62[11]
EcclesDavid Mort20,48949.81[11]
NewportJames Walker18,65339.51[11]
PontypoolThomas Griffiths17,80551.51[11]
1931 general electionBilstonJohn Baker16,84744.92[12]
EcclesDavid Mort16,10138.22[12]
NewportJames Walker19,23840.92[12]
PontypoolThomas Griffiths18,98156.31[12]
1935 general electionBilstonDavid Mort17,82048.82[13]
MotherwellJames Walker14,75550.71[13]
1940 by-electionSwansea EastDavid MortunopposedN/A1
1945 general electionBoltonJack Jones44,59524.01[14]
Swansea EastDavid Mort19,12775.81[14]
1950 general electionRotherhamJack Jones31,21164.41[15]
Swansea EastDavid Mort32,68075.31[15]
1951 general electionRotherhamJack Jones31,12465.61[16]
Swansea EastDavid Mort32,79073.61[16]
1955 general electionRotherhamJack Jones27,42363.31[17]
Swansea EastDavid Mort28,19872.41[17]
1959 general electionRotherhamJack Jones28,29862.81[18]
Swansea EastDavid Mort29,88467.51[18]
1964 general electionNeathDonald Coleman29,69273.41[19]
1966 general electionNeathDonald Coleman31,18379.91[20]
1968 by-electionSheffield BrightsideEdward Griffiths14,17955.21[20]
1970 general electionNeathDonald Coleman28,37871.41[21]
Sheffield BrightsideEdward Griffiths23,94172.21[21]
Feb 1974 general electionHalesowen and StourbridgeDennis Turner22,46533.82[22]
NeathDonald Coleman25,35162.31[22]
Sheffield BrightsideEdward Griffiths27,36368.41[22]
Oct 1974 general electionHalesowen and StourbridgeDennis Turner23,63737.62[23]
NeathDonald Coleman25,02861.41[23]
1979 general electionKetteringWilliam Homewood31,57945.01[22]
NeathDonald Coleman27,07164.51[22]
1983 general electionCorbyWilliam Homewood17,65936.12[22]
NeathDonald Coleman22,67053.61
1987 general electionEnfield NorthMartin Upham14,74328.52
NeathDonald Coleman27,61263.41
Newport WestPaul Flynn20,88746.11

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. 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. 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. Pugh, Arthur (1951). Men of Steel. London: Iron and Steel Trades Confederation. pp. 153–154, 283.
  8. 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. Pugh, Arthur (1951). Men of Steel. London: Iron and Steel Trades Confederation. pp. 371, 380.
  10. 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. Pugh, Arthur (1951). Men of Steel. Iron and Steel Trades Confederation. p. 443.
  12. Annual Report of the Labour Party: 11–27. 1931. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. "List of Endorsed Labour Candidates and Election Results, November 14, 1935". Annual Report of the Labour Party: 8–23. 1935.
  14. Labour Party, Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 232–248.
  15. "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. Labour Party, Report of the Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 184–203.
  17. Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 255–275.
  18. 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. Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 308–330.
  21. Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 289–312.
  22. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 371–390.
  23. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 391–411.
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