Coopers' Federation of Great Britain
The Coopers' Federation of Great Britain was a trade union representing coopers in the United Kingdom and, initially, also in Ireland.
The union was founded in 1926 as the Coopers' Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. It brought together a large number of local unions which still retained a high level of independence. With the long-term decline of the industry, its affiliates gradually merged, and by the 1960s, there were just four: the Amalgamated Society of Coopers, the National Trade Union of Coopers, the Manchester Coopers Association Trade and Friendly Society and the Philanthropic Society of Journeymen Coopers of Burton upon Trent and Vicinity. In 1970, the Amalgamated and the National merged.[1]
Membership of the union was more than 10,000 in the 1950s, but declined to only 1,000 in 1979. In 1978, the union renamed itself as the Coopers' and Allied Workers' Federation of Great Britain in an attempt to reposition itself, but it decided instead to merge into the National Union of General and Municipal Workers in 1979.[1]