NUHKW - National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers
The NUHKW was formed by a merger of five regional organisations; the Leicester Hosiery Union, the Hinckley Hosiery Union, the Nottingham Hosiery Union, the Ilkeston Hosiery Union and the Loughborough Hosiery Union. Scottish Knitting Industry Unions joined later the same year.
The Union was headquartered in Leicester and had grown to 22,430 by the end of 1945.
The labour shortages caused by the war had seen the industry shrink by more than 50,000 jobs, but post war recovery saw the union’s membership increase to 40,000 by 1951.
A national strike was narrowly averted in 1970, as the industry came under pressure from lower labour costs abroad. 1974 saw the peak of the industry, with union membership topping 72,000. However, the decline had begun and between 1969 and 1975 the Nottingham and District Hosiery Finishers' Association, Leicester & Leicestershire Trimmers and Auxiliary Association, Hinckley & District Trimmers' Union, Hinckley & District Warehousemen's Association, Amalgamated Society of Operative Lace Makers and Textile Workers, and Leicester Dyers and Scourers Trade and Benefit Society joined the National Union.
Unions that Amalgamated into the NUHKW:
1969-1975
- Nottingham and District Hosiery Finishers' Association
- Leicester & Leicestershire Trimmers and Auxiliary Association
- Hinckley & District Trimmers' Union
- Leicester Dyers and Scourers Trade and Benefit Society
- Hinckley & District Warehousemen's Association
- Amalgamated Society of Operative Lace Makers and Textile Workers
1945
- Leicester Hosiery Union
- Hinckley Hosiery Union
- Nottingham Hosiery Union
- Ilkeston Hosiery Union
- Loughborough Hosiery Union
- Scottish Knitting Industry Unions