Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section

The Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS) was a British trade union.

TASS
Full nameTechnical, Administrative and Supervisory Section
Founded21 May 1913 (1913-05-21)
Date dissolved1988
Merged intoManufacturing Science and Finance
Members170,751 (1980)[1]
JournalThe Draughtsman
TASS News and Journal[1]
Head unionAmalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (1970–1985)
AffiliationTUC, CSEU, IMF, LMTU, Labour
Office locationOnslow Hall, Richmond upon Thames[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
Banner of AUEW-TASS

History

The union was founded in 1913 by 200 draughtsmen, as the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen (AESD). It expanded rapidly, and had more than 14,000 member by the end of the decade. Although it declined during the Great Depression, it retained most of its members by offering unemployment benefit, and by 1939 established a new high of 23,000 members, this rising to 44,000 by the end of World War II and over 75,000 by 1968. From 1960, it accepted technicians in ancillary roles, changing its name to the Draughtsmen's and Allied Technicians' Association (DATA).[2]

In 1970, DATA amalgamated with the Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers (AUEFW) and Constructional Engineering Union (CEU) to form the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (AUEW). The former members of DATA formed the Technical and Supervisory Section of the new union. At the 1973 Representative Council Conference it was agreed to rename it the Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (TASS).

In 1985, after considerable problems within the AUEW, TASS broke away to become an independent union.

TASS absorbed the National Union of Gold, Silver and Allied Trades (NUGSAT) in 1981, the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers, Coppersmiths, Heating and Domestic Engineers in 1983, the Association of Patternmakers and Allied Craftsmen in 1984, the Tobacco Workers' Union in 1986, and the National Society of Metal Mechanics in 1987.

In 1988, it merged with the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) to become the Manufacturing Science and Finance Union (MSF). MSF in turn merged with the AEEU to form Amicus in 2002. This resulted in TASS and the former AUEW (by then part of the AEEU) being re-united within one union.

Election results

The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in each Parliamentary election from 1950 onwards.

ElectionConstituencyCandidateVotesPercentagePosition
1950 general electionBristol WestEdward Bishop12,67730.02[3]
South BuckinghamshireCyril Dee11,38923.92[3]
1951 general electionExeterEdward Bishop18,57640.72[4]
South BuckinghamshireCyril Dee14,17031.42[4]
1955 general electionBromsgroveLester George22,28744.82[5]
South GloucestershireEdward Bishop20,03447.42[5]
1959 general electionGlasgow CathcartJames Jarvie21,16940.82[6]
Wembley SouthEdward Mackenzie12,16632.62[6]
1964 general electionChislehurstRonald Huzzard20,73641.22[7]
NewarkEdward Bishop26,17154.41[7]
TynemouthAlbert Booth25,89443.72[7]
1966 general electionBarrow-in-FurnessAlbert Booth23,48560.31[8]
NewarkEdward Bishop27,40256.71[8]
1968 by-electionBassetlawJoe Ashton21,39449.61
1970 general electionBarrow-in-FurnessAlbert Booth22,40056.11[9]
BassetlawJoe Ashton28,95954.91[9]
NewarkEdward Bishop26,45551.21[9]
Oldham EastJames Lamond17,02051.11[9]
Feb 1974 general electionBarrow-in-FurnessAlbert Booth19,92546.11[10]
BassetlawJoe Ashton33,72460.01[10]
NewarkEdward Bishop31,58653.81[10]
Oldham EastJames Lamond18,54848.21[10]
Oct 1974 general electionBarrow-in-FurnessAlbert Booth21,60751.41[11]
BassetlawJoe Ashton28,66353.71[11]
NewarkEdward Bishop26,59847.91[11]
Oldham EastJames Lamond19,05452.81[11]
1979 general electionBarrow-in-FurnessAlbert Booth22,68753.21[12]
BassetlawJoe Ashton29,42650.21[12]
Dundee WestErnie Ross23,65447.31[12]
NewarkEdward Bishop25,96043.02[12]
Oldham EastJames Lamond18,24850.71[12]
1983 general electionBarrow-in-FurnessAlbert Booth17,70734.72[13]
BassetlawJoe Ashton22,23145.61[13]
ChorleyIvan Taylor17,58630.52[13]
Dundee WestErnie Ross20,28843.41[13]
Oldham Central and RoytonJames Lamond18,61141.41[13]
PrestonStan Thorne21,81046.71
StockportPeter R. Ward12,73129.02[13]
Stockton NorthFrank Cook18,33937.11[13]
1987 general electionBassetlawJoe Ashton25,38548.11
Dundee WestErnie Ross24,91653.41
Glasgow SpringburnMichael Martin25,61773.61
Oldham Central and RoytonJames Lamond21,75948.11
Stockton NorthFrank Cook26,04349.21

Leadership

General Secretaries
1913: L. Blair[14]
1918: Peter Doig[14]
1945: James Young[14]
1952: George Doughty[14]
1974: Ken Gill

Assistant General Secretaries
1919: David Manteklow[14]
1920: David Manteklow and James Young[14]
1929: Post vacant[14]
1946: John Holland[14]
1956: J. Dickinson[14]

Deputy General Secretaries
1968: Ken Gill
1973: John Forrester
1979: Eric Winterbottom
1983: Barbara Switzer

References
  1. Eaton, Jack; Gill, Colin (1981). The Trade Union Directory. London: Pluto Press. pp. 106–113. ISBN 0861043502.
  2. Peter Armstrong et al, White Collar Workers Trade Unions and Class, pp. 163–164.
  3. "List of Parliamentary Labour candidates and election results, February 23rd, 1950". Report of the Conference of the Labour Party: 179–198. 1950.
  4. Labour Party, Report of the Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 184–203.
  5. Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 255–275.
  6. Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 179–201.
  7. Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 158–180.
  8. Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 308–330.
  9. Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 289–312.
  10. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 371–390.
  11. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 391–411.
  12. Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 406–431.
  13. General Election Guide. BBC Data Publications. 1983. ISBN 094635815X.
  14. Mortimer, J. E. (1960). A History of the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen. London: Macgibbon and Kee.
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