General Union of Loom Overlookers


The General Union of Loom Overlookers was a trade union representing junior supervisors in textile manufacturing in the United Kingdom. While most members were based in Lancashire, it also had members in Yorkshire, East Anglia and Essex.

History

In 1875, a National Confederate Association of Power Loom Overlookers was established as a loose organisation of sixteen local trade unions, most based in Lancashire. As all its affiliates were very small, its total membership was around 1,000. In 1885, it organised a conference with the larger Blackburn and Pendleton unions, which saw themselves as friendly societies and had refused to join the confederation. The conference was successful, and the General Union of Associations of Power-Loom Overlookers was established. It took part in a large number of local strikes in its early years.
Affiliates included:
UnionFoundedAffiliatedMembership Notes
Accrington and District18781885121Dissolved 1982
Ashton-under-Lyne and District18721885174Merged into Hyde and District 1961
Bacup and District1907190783Merged into Haslingden and District 1964
Bamber Bridge1879188576Merged into Preston and Districts 1918
Blackburn and District18501885350
Bolton and District18711885339Merged into United Association 1984
Burnley and District18841885571Dissolved 1974
Bury and District1892143
Chorley and District18781885184Merged into Preston and Districts 1973
Church and Oswaldtwistle1867190877Merged into Great Harwood 1960
Clitheroec.1930N/A
Colne and District1883285Merged into EETPU 1991
Darwen and District18581,325Dissolved 1960s
Derby19371937N/AMerged into United Association 1978
Glossop18751885N/AMerged into Hadfield 1901
Hadfield and District18861893120Merged into Hyde 1976
Haslingden and District1890101Merged into EETPU 1990
Heywood and District1868189381Dissolved 1982
Hyde and District18721885108
Leigh1893189356Merged into Bolton 1973
Longridge and District1888188845Merged into Preston and Districts 1966
National18651885581Merged into EETPU 1990
Nelson and District1889513Merged into EETPU 1989
Oldham18701885195Merged into United Association 1990
Preston and Districts18751885665Merged into Blackburn and District 1988
Radcliffe and District1875189389Dissolved 1972
Skipton and District18961896102
Stalybridge and District1871188588Dissolved 1976
United1887535Dissolved 1997
Wigan1880s1885Merged into EETPU 1990

The union was keen to support broader trade union ventures. It was a founder member of the Labour Representation Committee, and affiliated to the United Textile Factory Workers' Association, the General Federation of Trade Unions and the Trades Union Congress. It was also a founder member of the Northern Counties Textile Trades Federation.
Early in the 1900s, the association changed its name to become the General Union of Associations of Loom Overlookers. Membership continued to grow until 1933, when it peaked at 8,820. It remained steady at around 5,000 until 1960, at which point 25 unions were affiliated. However, membership then began to fall, in line with the decline in the British cotton industry. In response, in 1971, the union founded the "British Federation of Textile Technicians" with two smaller, independent unions: the Yorkshire Association of Power Loom Overlookers and the Scottish Union of Power Loom Overlookers.
By 1979, the union consisted of fourteen local unions, although their total membership was only 2,410. It suffered a dramatic loss of membership as mills closed during the 1980s and 1990s, with only 265 members remaining at the end of the century. By 1997, it had only two affiliates, the United Association of Power Loom Overlookers and the Amalgamated Power Loom Overlookers, and that year its federal structure was abandoned, members instead joining the central body, now renamed the "General Union of Loom Overlookers". Despite this change, membership continued to drop, falling to only 138 in 2007, when the union was dissolved. Former members of the union transferred to the GMB.

General Secretaries