Ayrshire Miners' Union

The Ayrshire Miners' Union was a coal mining trade union based in Scotland.

History

The first Ayrshire Miners' Union was founded in 1880, with Keir Hardie as its organiser. The union supported a strike for higher wages over the winter of 1881/82, but this was unsuccessful, and the union dissolved.[1]

A new union was founded in 1886, with its Hardie elected as its first secretary.[2] In 1893, it was reorganised on a federal basis and renamed the Ayrshire Miners' Federal Union.[3] It was a founder of the Scottish Miners' Federation (SMF) in 1894, and by 1897 it claimed 3,000 members out of a total workforce of 10,000 in the county, making it the third-largest component of the federation.[2]

In 1944, the SMF became the unitary National Union of Scottish Mineworkers, and the union became its Ayrshire District, with less autonomy than before.

Secretaries

1886: Keir Hardie
1889: Peter Muir
1908: James Brown
1939: Alexander Sloan

Presidents

1886: John Bank
1894: James Brown
1908: Robert Smith
1934: James Mullen

References

  1. ^ Robin Page Arnot, A History of the Scottish Miners, p.67
  2. ^ a b David Howell, British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888-1906, pp.33-35
  3. ^ Alan Campbell, The Scottish Miners, 1874-1939: Trade unions and politics, p.41
  • v
  • t
  • e
Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
Presidents
  • 1889 Pickard
  • 1904 En. Edwards
  • 1912 Smillie
  • 1922 Smith
  • 1929 Richards
  • 1931 Eb. Edwards
  • 1932 Lee
  • 1934 J. Jones
  • 1939 Lawther
  • 1954 E. Jones
  • 1960 Machen
  • 1960 Ford
  • 1971 Gormley
  • 1982 Scargill
  • 2002 Lavery
  • 2012 Wilson
Vice-Presidents
General Secretaries
Treasurers
  • 1889 En. Edwards
  • 1904 Abraham
  • 1918 Robson
  • 1921 Richardson
Affiliates and areasStrikes