Electrical Trades Union (UK)
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| Founded | 1889 |
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| Date dissolved | July 1968 |
| Merged into | EETPU |
| Affiliation | TUC, CSEU |
| Office location | Manchester, England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) was a trade union representing electricians in the United Kingdom, much of its membership consisting of wiring fitters and telephone engineers.
The union was founded in 1889 with the merger of the Union of Electrical Operatives, a London-based union formed in 1868, and the Amalgamated Society of Telegraph and Telephone Construction Men, based in Manchester. Initially, the union had 570 members, most of whom were employees of the National Telephone Company. Its first part-time secretary, elected at the inaugural conference in 1890, was Dick Steadman.
The National Telephone Company's Brighton office was known for poor working conditions and, in 1891, an ETU branch was formed there, led by Alfred Ewer. After failed negotiations, the union began a strike, but this collapsed after five weeks. The remaining strikers were sacked, although the union helped them find them work elsewhere. In response, the union decided to appoint its first full-time general secretary; Arthur Walker was elected unopposed. He raised concerns that the union was unable to meet its commitments to out-of-work benefits to members. The became an immediate problem with a downturn in trade the following year; union membership peaked at 1,183 that year but then began to fall. The executive decided to institute a levy of three pennies per member per week in order to make up a shortfall, but this just led to more members leaving, and membership fell to only 402 in 1894. Walker was forced to resign after stealing union funds, and Steadman replaced him on a temporary basis.
Steadman was unable to solve the union's problems, and membership reached an all-time low of 236 members at the end of 1895. Francis Sims was elected as a full-time general secretary, in a final attempt to turn its fortunes around. He undertook a tour of the UK, attempting to form new branches and strengthen existing ones. While this produced mixed results, membership began to recover, and a successful strike in Bolton in 1899, and an agreement signed with Sheffield Town Council in 1900 further improved his reputation. However, the following year, he too was found to have embezzled union funds, leading to his imprisonment for six months. On release, he tried to set up a breakaway union, the Electrical Wiremen's Union, but this failed to grow and was disbanded in 1903.
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