Editing Ceramic and Allied Trades Union (section)

==History==
In 1906, the Amalgamated Society of Hollow-ware Pressers merged with the China Potters' Federation and the Printers' and Transferrers' Society, forming the '''National Amalgamated Society of Male and Female Pottery Workers'''.  This was joined by the National Amalgamated Operative White Potters of Scotland later in the year, the China Furniture and Electrical Appliance Throwers' and Turners' Society in 1907, and the Society of Operative Pottery Engravers, the Associated Stoneware Throwers, and the Bristol Stoneware Society in 1908.  It opened branches in many other towns across the country, including one in London 1907.<ref name="warburton" />  The union also became prominent in the [[International Federation of Pottery Workers]].<ref name="burchill">{{cite book |last1=Burchill |first1=Frank |last2=Ross |first2=Richard |title=A History of the Potters' Union |date=1977 |publisher=Ceramic and Allied Trades Union |location=Hanley}}</ref>

In 1919, the United Ovenmen's Society and the Packers' Association joined the union, which renamed itself as the '''National Society of Pottery Workers''', with 40,000 members.<ref name="warburton" />  This membership fell during the 1920s and much of the 1930s, as the [[Great Depression]] hit, and the union struggled to increase the low wages paid in the industry.  However, from 1933 the union was able to more than cover its costs, and in 1937 membership more than doubled, to 24,323.  The British Pottery Manufacturers' Association began encouraging workers to join the union, hoping to prevent low-end manufacturers from undercutting its members.<ref name="burchill" />

After World War II, the workforce in the British pottery industry declined, but the union increased membership density, and by 1975, 75.3% of pottery workers in the UK held membership of the union.  During the 1950s, the union engaged with compulsory arbitration, but ended this in 1960, feeling it achieved little.  In 1965, the union threatened to strike in order to improve wages.<ref name="burchill" />

In 1970, the union became the '''Ceramic and Allied Trades Union''',<ref>Wolodymyr Maksymiw et al, ''The British Trade Union Directory'' (1990), p.92</ref> and it announced that it would recruit workers from all areas of the pottery industry, other than managers - this included areas such as clerical staff, electricians and maintenance workers, but these areas were already covered by other unions, and following various disputes, it largely withdrew from them.  In 1975, the union signed a [[closed shop]] agreement with the British Pottery Manufacturers' Federation, although workers who did not wish to join could pay the equivalent amount to a charity.  The agreement also established an approach to calculating wage increases, and gave workers two extra days holiday each year.  This achieved most of the union's long-term aims.<ref name="burchill" />

Employment in the pottery industry continued to decline, and by 2006, the union's membership was down to 7,239.  In the hope of recruiting workers in other industries, it changed its name to '''Unity'''.<ref name="smethurst">{{cite book |first1=John B. |last1=Smethurst |first2=Peter |last2=Carter |title=Historical Directory of Trade Unions |volume=6 |isbn=9780754666837 |lccn=80-151653 |date=June 2009 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |location=Farnham |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldirect0004mars }}</ref>  In 2015, the union merged into the [[GMB (trade union)|GMB]].<ref>[[GMB (trade union)|GMB]], "[http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/unity-votes-to-merge-with-GMB Unity Votes To Merge With GMB] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821190804/http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/unity-votes-to-merge-with-GMB |date=2016-08-21 }}", 12 January 2015</ref>