National Union of the Footwear, Leather and Allied Trades

The National Union of the Footwear, Leather and Allied Trades (NUFLAT) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1971 and 1991. It represented workers in the leather and footwear industry.

NUFLAT

National Union of the Footwear, Leather and Allied Trades
Merged into	National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades
Founded	1971
Dissolved	1991
Headquarters	The Grange, Earls Barton
Location	United Kingdom
Members	22,894 (1991)[1]
Publication	NUFLAT Monthly Journal and Report[2]
Affiliations	TUC, Labour, ISLWF

History

The union was founded in 1971, with the merger of the Amalgamated Society of Leather Workers, the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives, the National Union of Glovers and Leather Workers and the National Union of Leather Workers and Allied Trades.^[3] Although initially a strong union with many closed shop agreements,^[4] its membership fell rapidly due to large-scale redundancies in the industry.^[5] In 1991, it merged with the National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers to form the National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades.^[6] By the time of the merger, membership had fallen to 22,894.^[1] After further mergers, this eventually became part of Community.

Election results

The union sponsored a Labour Party candidate in several Parliamentary elections.^[7][8]

Election	Constituency	Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Position
Feb 1974 general election	Melton	Roy Mayhew	16,228	23.9	3
1979 general election	Northampton South	Graham Mason	15,491	40.2	2

Officials

General Presidents

1971: Bert Comerford

1980: Bob Stevenson

General Secretaries

1971: T. A. Moore

1973: Bill Jones

1976: Sid Clapham

1983: Gordon Stewart

1988: George Browett

References

1. National Union of Hosiery & Knitwear Workers, Knitting Together Archived September 23, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
2. Marsh, Arthur (1984). Trade Union Handbook (3 ed.). Aldershot: Gower. pp. 203–206. ISBN 0566024268.
3. NUFLAT - National Union of the Footwear, Leather and Allied Trades, Community Archived July 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
4. Dunn, Stephen; Gennard, John (1984). The Closed Shop in British Industry. Macmillan Publishers. p. 81. ISBN 9780333262030.
5. Waddington, Jeremy; Kahmann, Marcus; Hoffmann, Jurgen (2005). A Comparison of the Merger Process in Britain and Germany: Joining Forces?. Routledge. p. 124. ISBN 9780415353786.
6. KFAT – National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Allied Trades, Community Archived July 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
7. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.371-390
8. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.406-431

External links

• Catalogue of the NUFLAT archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick