Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Technicians (ASSET), earlier the National Foremen's Association (NFA) (1917-1942) and the Association of Supervisory Staff and Engineering Technicians (1942), and successor

This collection contains: rules, 1947-1964; annual delegate meeting/conference agendas and proceedings, 1913-1966; reports of national executive council to annual delegate conference, 1943-1967; national executive council minutes and agendas, 1918-1968; airways national sectional council minutes, 1946-1959; general purposes and finance committee minutes, 1945-1967; industrial relations/industrial relations and recruitment committee minutes, agendas and reports on current disputes, 1946-1968; organisation committee minutes, 1952-1961; parliamentary committee minutes, agendas and related papers, 1947-1968; politcal committee minutes and agendas, 1946-1968; policy development/research committee minutes, 1947-1949; rules revision committee minutes, 1961; records concerning "general administration", 1946-1971; "General files", 1944-1967; records concerning relations with other trade unions and staff associations, 1938-1970; Records concerning trade union federations and other joint trade union bodies, 1955-1967; agreements, 1920-1967; tabular summaries of changes in membership by branch and disrict, 1958-1970; other membership records, 1963-1967; 'The Foreman', 1922-1942; circulars issued by the general secretary or joint general secretaries, 1955-1967; general circulars, 1960-1967; miscellaneous circulars, 1958-1968; various publications, 1942-1969; external publications, 1954-1967; staffing, legal and property records, 1950-1971; records of ASSET insurance services, 1959-1968; records of divisions and branches; 1942-1971

ASSET was formed in 1917 as the National Foremen's Association (NFA) by a small group of foremen whose main area of recruitment was in the large railway workshops and in engineering. The NFA was one of several associations comprising the National Federation of Professional Workers which had been established to counter the effect of the Foremen's Benefit Society (later the Foremen and Staff Mutual Benefit Society) which had been formed in 1899 by a body of employers. In 1925 the NFA amalgamated with the Amalgamated Managers' and Foremen's Association and retained its title. In 1942 its name was changed first to the Association of Supervisory Staff and Engineering Technicians and then to the Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Technicians. In January 1968 ASSET completed its merger with the Association of Scientific Workers (AScW) to form the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS).

Reference: Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, 'Historical Directory of Trade Unions', Volume I (Gower, 1980)

Records both of ASSET and its successor the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) were catalogued together in 1987 and 1989 under reference MSS.79/AS. These records were recatalogued in 2006 and 2007 so as to separate the records of the two bodies. But the ASTMS archive still includes a substantial quantity of ASSET records at least some of which were probably incorporated into ASTMS's record-keeping system where they closely related to ASTMS's own records.

This collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

Link to full catalogue: http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/ASS

The archive of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS)