View source for General Union of Loom Overlookers

{{short description|Former trade union of the United Kingdom}}
{{Infobox union
|name         = General Union of Loom Overlookers
|location_country= [[United Kingdom]]
|affiliation  = [[General Federation of Trade Unions (UK)|GFTU]], [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]], [[Northern Counties Textile Trades Federation|NCTTF]], [[Trade Union Congress|TUC]], [[United Textile Factory Workers' Association|UTFWA]]
|members      = 5,176 (1907)<ref>{{cite book|title=Report on Trade Unions in 1905-1907|date=1909|publisher=Board of Trade|location=London|pages=121–124}}</ref><br/>8,820 (1933)<ref name="marsh" /><br/>2,410 (1979)
|image        =
|founded      = 17 May 1885
|predecessor  = National Confederate Association of Power Loom Overlookers
|dissolved    = 2007
|merged       =
|headquarters = [[Blackburn]]
|key_people   =
|website      =
|footnotes    =
}}
The '''General Union of Loom Overlookers''' ('''GULO''') 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.<ref name="marsh" />
==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.<ref name="marsh" />
Affiliates included:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Union<ref name="marsh">{{cite book|last1=Marsh|first1=Arthur|last2=Ryan|first2=Victoria|last3=Smethurst|first3=John B.|title=Historical Directory of Trade Unions|volume=4|date=1994|publisher=Ashgate|location=Farnham|isbn=9780859679008|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldirect0004mars/page/146 146–172]|url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldirect0004mars/page/146}}</ref> !! Founded !! Affiliated !! Membership (1907)<ref>{{cite book|title=Report on Trade Unions in 1905-1907|date=1909|publisher=Board of Trade|location=London|pages=26–29}}</ref> !! Notes
|-
| Accrington and District || 1878 || 1885 || 121 || Dissolved 1982
|-
| Ashton-under-Lyne and District || 1872 || 1885 || 174 || Merged into Hyde and District 1961
|-
| Bacup and District || 1907 || 1907 || 83 || Merged into Haslingden and District 1964
|-
| Bamber Bridge || 1879 || 1885 || 76 || Merged into Preston and Districts 1918
|-
| Blackburn and District || 1850 || 1885 || 350 ||
|-
| Bolton and District || 1871 || 1885 || 339 || Merged into United Association 1984
|-
| Burnley and District || 1884 || 1885 || 571 || Dissolved 1974
|-
| Bury and District || 1892 || || 143 ||
|-
| Chorley and District || 1878 || 1885 || 184 || Merged into Preston and Districts 1973
|-
| Church and Oswaldtwistle || 1867 || 1908 || 77 || Merged into Great Harwood 1960
|-
| Clitheroe || c.1930 || || ''N/A'' ||
|-
| Colne and District || 1883 || || 285 || Merged into EETPU 1991
|-
| Darwen and District || 1858 || || 1,325 || Dissolved 1960s
|-
| Derby || 1937 || 1937 || ''N/A'' || Merged into United Association 1978
|-
| Glossop || 1875 || 1885 || ''N/A'' || Merged into Hadfield 1901
|-
| Hadfield and District || 1886 || 1893 || 120 || Merged into Hyde 1976
|-
| Haslingden and District || 1890 || || 101 || Merged into EETPU 1990
|-
| Heywood and District || 1868 || 1893 || 81 || Dissolved 1982
|-
| Hyde and District || 1872 || 1885 || 108 ||
|-
| Leigh || 1893 || 1893 || 56 || Merged into Bolton 1973
|-
| Longridge and District || 1888 || 1888 || 45 || Merged into Preston and Districts 1966
|-
| National || 1865 || 1885 || 581 || Merged into EETPU 1990
|-
| Nelson and District || 1889 || || 513 || Merged into EETPU 1989
|-
| Oldham || 1870 || 1885 || 195 || Merged into United Association 1990
|-
| Preston and Districts || 1875 || 1885 || 665 || Merged into Blackburn and District 1988
|-
| Radcliffe and District || 1875 || 1893 || 89 || Dissolved 1972
|-
| Skipton and District || 1896 || 1896 || 102 ||
|-
| Stalybridge and District || 1871 || 1885 || 88 || Dissolved 1976
|-
| United || 1887 || || 535 || Dissolved 1997
|-
| Wigan || 1880s || 1885 || || Merged into EETPU 1990
|}
The union was keen to support broader trade union ventures.  It was a founder member of the [[Labour Representation Committee (1900)|Labour Representation Committee]],<ref>Richard Biernacki, ''The Fabrication of Labor: Germany and Britain, 1640-1914'', p.467</ref> and affiliated to the [[United Textile Factory Workers' Association]],<ref>P. F. Clarke, ''Lancashire and the New Liberalism'', p.93</ref> the [[General Federation of Trade Unions (UK)|General Federation of Trade Unions]] and the [[Trades Union Congress]].<ref name="directory">{{cite book|last1=Eaton|first1=Jack|last2=Gill|first2=Colin|title=The Trade Union Directory|year=1981|publisher=Pluto Press|location=London|page=183}}</ref>  It was also a founder member of the [[Northern Counties Textile Trades Federation]].<ref name="marsh" />
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.<ref name="marsh" />  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]].<ref>"Alliance of textile unions", ''[[The Guardian]]'', 23 February 1971, p.4</ref>
By 1979, the union consisted of fourteen local unions, although their total membership was only 2,410.<ref name="directory" />  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.<ref>Roger Undy, ''Trade Union Merger Strategies'', p.35</ref>  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".<ref>Gary Daniels and John McIlroy, ''Trade Unions in a Neoliberal World'', p.134</ref>  Despite this change, membership continued to drop, falling to only 138 in 2007, when the union was dissolved.<ref>Jonathan Sale, ''[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/sep/08/tradeunions There is no power in these unions]'', ''[[The Guardian]]'', 8 September 2008</ref>  Former members of the union transferred to the [[GMB (trade union)|GMB]].<ref>[[GMB (trade union)|GMB]], "[https://www.gmb-southern.org.uk/download/rulebook/Transfers%20of%20Engagements10.pdf Transfers of Engagements]"</ref>
==General Secretaries==
:1885: John Sidebotham
:1905: James E. Tattersall
:1913: James E. Tattersall and [[Edward Duxbury]]
:1921: [[Edward Duxbury]]
:1935: Jeremiah Proctor
:1949: Fred Titherington
:1963: [[Arthur Howcroft]]
:1976: Harold Brown
:1982: R. Richardson
:1986: Eddie Macro
:1990: Don Rishton
==References==
<references />
{{Lancashire cotton}}
[[Category:Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1885 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Cotton industry trade unions]]
[[Category:Trade unions established in 1885]]
[[Category:Trade unions disestablished in 2007]]
[[Category:GMB (trade union) amalgamations]]
[[Category:Trade unions based in Lancashire]]