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.
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.
Affiliates included: Union Founded Affiliated Membership (1907) 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,Richard Biernacki, The Fabrication of Labor: Germany and Britain, 1640-1914, p.467 and affiliated to the United Textile Factory Workers' Association,P. F. Clarke, Lancashire and the New Liberalism, p.93 the General Federation of Trade Unions and the Trades Union Congress. It was also a founder member of the Northern Counties Textile Trades Federation.
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. 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."Alliance of textile unions", The Guardian, 23 February 1971, p.4
By 1979, the union consisted of fourteen local unions, although their total membership was only 2,410. 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.Roger Undy, Trade Union Merger Strategies, p.35 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".Gary Daniels and John McIlroy, Trade Unions in a Neoliberal World, p.134 Despite this change, membership continued to drop, falling to only 138 in 2007, when the union was dissolved.Jonathan Sale, There is no power in these unions, The Guardian, 8 September 2008 Former members of the union transferred to the GMB.GMB, "Transfers of Engagements"
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
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