GMB (union)
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| Full name | GMB |
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| Founded | 1924 |
| Members | 622,956 (2015) |
| Affiliation | TUC, ICTU, STUC, CSEU, Labour Party |
| Key people | Tim Roache, General Secretary |
| Office location | 22 Stephenson Way, London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Website | www |
GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 631,000 members. GMB members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution and the utilities, social care, the NHS and ambulance service and local government.
GMB originates from a series of mergers, beginning when the National Amalgamated Union of Labour (NAUL), National Union of General Workers (NUGW) and the Municipal Employees Association in 1924 joined into a new union, named the National Union of General and Municipal Workers (NUGMW). Although the new union was one of the largest in the country, it grew relatively slowly over the following decades, perhaps due to its image as being on the right wing of the labour movement. This changed in the 1970s, when David Basnett created new sections for staff, and hotel and catering workers, and changed the union's name to the General and Municipal Workers' Union (GMWU) in 1974.
GMB is the result of mergers with many others, although until the 1980s, most unions merging in were small. In 1982, following a merger with the Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Shipwrights, Blacksmiths and Structural Workers (ASBSBSW), the union was renamed the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union, from the initials of which its present name, which was officially adopted in 1987, is derived, although the abbreviation had been used since 1982. For several years following the highly contested merger boilermaker members retained a distinct identity in GMB's 'Craft Section'.
The union has absorbed the following smaller unions:
Thorne Credit Union Limited is a savings and loans co-operative established by the trade union for its members in 1998. Trading as TCU Money, it began life as GMB Lancashire Region Credit Union and was rolled out nationwide in 2000. TCU is named after Will Thorne, founder of NUGW forerunner, the National Union of Gas Workers and General Labourers and one of the first Labour Members of Parliament. The credit union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the PRA. Ultimately, like the banks and building societies, members’ savings are protected against business failure by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
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