Ceramic and Allied Trades Union (CATU)

The collection contains minutes of the National Executive Council, annual delegation meetings and other commitees. There are volumes of payments books, membership returns, agreements and prices lists and a series of newspaper cuttings books. Other papers include files on negotiations with companies, lodges, apprenticeships, World War Two and the pottery industry and legal cases. There is a series of files relating to trades and occupational groupings in the pottery industry that contain papers on practices, agreements and disputes.

The Ceramic and Allied Trades Union (CATU) can trace its origin from the formation of the National Amalgamated Society of Male and Female Pottery Workers (NASMFPW) in 1906. This changed its name to the National Society of Pottery Workers (NSPW) in 1917. Previously there had been many small, disparate and mainly craft-based unions which did not carry much punch and were sometimes in conflict with each other. The process of amalgamation was largely completed when the union representing the ovenmen joined in 1920. The National Society of Pottery Workers became 'CATU' in 1970, and has recently become part of Unity.

Series 1: Minutes books
Series 2: Finances
Series 3: Newspaper cutting books
Series 4: Membership returns
Series 5: Agreements and price lists
Series 6: Other papers
Series 7: Trade and occupational grouping files

Open for consultation.

If you wish to visit the library you need to make an appointment. The Working Class Movement Library is open Tuesday-Friday 10.00am-5.00pm and every 1st Saturday of the month 10.00am-4.00pm.

To book an appointment, telephone: 0161 736 3601 or email: info@wcml.org.uk .

The full catalogue is available online on the Working Class Movement Library's Web Site - www.wcml.org.uk/catalogue/adlib-catalogue

These records were organised and listed by John Percy. Amended and catalogued by Kate Hart, 2008, as part of the 'The past meets the present', HLF project. Description compiled by Kate Hart, Feb 2009 and edited by Jane Taylor, May 2020.

The collection was donated by the Ceramic and Allied Trades Union.