Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section

The Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS) was a British trade union.

TASS

Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section
Merged into	Manufacturing Science and Finance
Founded	21 May 1913 (1913-05-21)
Dissolved	1988
Headquarters	Onslow Hall, Richmond upon Thames[1]
Location	United Kingdom
Members	170,751 (1980)[1]
Publication	The Draughtsman TASS News and Journal[1]
Parent organization	Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (1970–1985)
Affiliations	TUC, CSEU, IMF, LMTU, Labour

Banner of AUEW-TASS

History

The union was founded in 1913 by 200 draughtsmen, as the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen (AESD). It expanded rapidly, and had more than 14,000 member by the end of the decade. Although it declined during the Great Depression, it retained most of its members by offering unemployment benefit, and by 1939 established a new high of 23,000 members, this rising to 44,000 by the end of World War II and over 75,000 by 1968. From 1960, it accepted technicians in ancillary roles, changing its name to the Draughtsmen's and Allied Technicians' Association (DATA).^[2]

In 1970, DATA amalgamated with the Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers (AUEFW) and Constructional Engineering Union (CEU) to form the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (AUEW). The former members of DATA formed the Technical and Supervisory Section of the new union. At the 1973 Representative Council Conference it was agreed to rename it the Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS).

In 1985, after considerable problems within the AUEW, TASS broke away to become an independent union.

TASS absorbed the National Union of Gold, Silver and Allied Trades (NUGSAT) in 1981, the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers, Coppersmiths, Heating and Domestic Engineers in 1983, the Association of Patternmakers and Allied Craftsmen in 1984, the Tobacco Workers' Union in 1986, and the National Society of Metal Mechanics in 1987.

In 1988, it merged with the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) to become the Manufacturing Science and Finance Union (MSF). MSF in turn merged with the AEEU to form Amicus in 2002. This resulted in TASS and the former AUEW (by then part of the AEEU) being re-united within one union.

Election results

The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in each Parliamentary election from 1950 onwards.

Election	Constituency	Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Position
1950 general election	Bristol West	Edward Bishop	12,677	30.0	2[3]
	South Buckinghamshire	Cyril Dee	11,389	23.9	2[3]
1951 general election	Exeter	Edward Bishop	18,576	40.7	2[4]
	South Buckinghamshire	Cyril Dee	14,170	31.4	2[4]
1955 general election	Bromsgrove	Lester George	22,287	44.8	2[5]
	South Gloucestershire	Edward Bishop	20,034	47.4	2[5]
1959 general election	Glasgow Cathcart	James Jarvie	21,169	40.8	2[6]
	Wembley South	Edward Mackenzie	12,166	32.6	2[6]
1964 general election	Chislehurst	Ronald Huzzard	20,736	41.2	2[7]
	Newark	Edward Bishop	26,171	54.4	1[7]
	Tynemouth	Albert Booth	25,894	43.7	2[7]
1966 general election	Barrow-in-Furness	Albert Booth	23,485	60.3	1[8]
	Newark	Edward Bishop	27,402	56.7	1[8]
1968 by-election	Bassetlaw	Joe Ashton	21,394	49.6	1
1970 general election	Barrow-in-Furness	Albert Booth	22,400	56.1	1[9]
	Bassetlaw	Joe Ashton	28,959	54.9	1[9]
	Newark	Edward Bishop	26,455	51.2	1[9]
	Oldham East	James Lamond	17,020	51.1	1[9]
Feb 1974 general election	Barrow-in-Furness	Albert Booth	19,925	46.1	1[10]
	Bassetlaw	Joe Ashton	33,724	60.0	1[10]
	Newark	Edward Bishop	31,586	53.8	1[10]
	Oldham East	James Lamond	18,548	48.2	1[10]
Oct 1974 general election	Barrow-in-Furness	Albert Booth	21,607	51.4	1[11]
	Bassetlaw	Joe Ashton	28,663	53.7	1[11]
	Newark	Edward Bishop	26,598	47.9	1[11]
	Oldham East	James Lamond	19,054	52.8	1[11]
1979 general election	Barrow-in-Furness	Albert Booth	22,687	53.2	1[12]
	Bassetlaw	Joe Ashton	29,426	50.2	1[12]
	Dundee West	Ernie Ross	23,654	47.3	1[12]
	Newark	Edward Bishop	25,960	43.0	2[12]
	Oldham East	James Lamond	18,248	50.7	1[12]
1983 general election	Barrow-in-Furness	Albert Booth	17,707	34.7	2[13]
	Bassetlaw	Joe Ashton	22,231	45.6	1[13]
	Chorley	Ivan Taylor	17,586	30.5	2[13]
	Dundee West	Ernie Ross	20,288	43.4	1[13]
	Oldham Central and Royton	James Lamond	18,611	41.4	1[13]
	Preston	Stan Thorne	21,810	46.7	1
	Stockport	Peter R. Ward	12,731	29.0	2[13]
	Stockton North	Frank Cook	18,339	37.1	1[13]
1987 general election	Bassetlaw	Joe Ashton	25,385	48.1	1
	Dundee West	Ernie Ross	24,916	53.4	1
	Glasgow Springburn	Michael Martin	25,617	73.6	1
	Oldham Central and Royton	James Lamond	21,759	48.1	1
	Stockton North	Frank Cook	26,043	49.2	1

Leadership

General Secretaries

1913: L. Blair^[14]

1918: Peter Doig^[14]

1945: James Young^[14]

1952: George Doughty^[14]

1974: Ken Gill

Assistant General Secretaries

1919: David Manteklow^[14]

1920: David Manteklow and James Young^[14]

1929: Post vacant^[14]

1946: John Holland^[14]

1956: J. Dickinson^[14]

Deputy General Secretaries

1968: Ken Gill

1973: John Forrester

1979: Eric Winterbottom

1983: Barbara Switzer

References

1. Eaton, Jack; Gill, Colin (1981). The Trade Union Directory. London: Pluto Press. pp. 106–113. ISBN 0861043502.
2. Peter Armstrong et al, White Collar Workers Trade Unions and Class, pp. 163–164.
3. "List of Parliamentary Labour candidates and election results, February 23rd, 1950". Report of the Conference of the Labour Party: 179–198. 1950.
4. Labour Party, Report of the Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 184–203.
5. Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 255–275.
6. Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 179–201.
7. Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 158–180.
8. Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 308–330.
9. Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 289–312.
10. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 371–390.
11. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 391–411.
12. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 406–431.
13. General Election Guide. BBC Data Publications. 1983. ISBN 094635815X.
14. Mortimer, J. E. (1960). A History of the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen. London: Macgibbon and Kee.

External links

• Catalogue of the TASS archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
• Catalogue of the DATA archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.

• Organized labour portal