The Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union, known as the EETPU, was a British trade union formed in 1968 as a union for electricians and plumbers, which went through three mergers from 1992 to now be part of Unite the Union.
History The union was formed in July 1968 with the merger of the Electrical Trades Union and the Plumbing Trades Union to form the Electrical, Electronic & Telecommunications Union & Plumbing Trades Union, which became the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications & Plumbing Union in 1973. Archives of government papers show that "a period of severe industrial unrest" began in September 1970. Local authority manual workers wanted a £30 minimum weekly wage. A Committee of Inquiry recommended a 14.5 per cent increase, but the government considered it to be too high. In the winter that followed (i.e. winter of 1970/1971) an electricity power workers strike caused the Cabinet to declare a national emergency. The first miners' strike followed in 1972.
For many years the EETPU owned and operated its own Technical Training Department which was based at Cudham Hall in Kent. This received much acclaim and press attention in its day. It later evolved into a private company known as Technical Training Solutions.
In September 1982, Chapple became President of the Trades Union Congress and was succeeded by Eric Hammond in 1984. Chapple was elevated to the House of Lords as Lord Chapple of Hoxton in 1985.
In 1986 the union's members replaced print workers that had been sacked by News International, prompting the Wapping dispute that led to the irrevocable change of Fleet Street.
Expulsion from the TUC The union had its own approach to making deals with companies, and thus often clashed with the TUC from which it was expelled for violating the Bridlington Agreement governing the transfer of members between TUC unions. The EETPU had developed a policy of signing single union agreements in companies where it had few members. In 1987, the TUC asked the EETPU to retract from these agreements at Yuasa (a Japanese battery company), Thorn-EMI and Orion (a Japanese electronics company). The EETPU refused and its 225,000 workers were expelled. Around 5,000 members, led by John Aitkin, decided to split away in order to remain within the mainstream trade union movement, and founded the Electrical and Plumbing Industries Union.John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, p.207 It has since been revealed that the EETPU colluded with the Thatcher government in the 1980s, giving advice to ministers about how to 'deal' with left-wing unions, and possibly supplied a list of left-wing union members to the government and security services.
Mergers The union merged with the Amalgamated Engineering Union to become the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU) in May 1992, so the electricians were now part of the TUC. The AEEU was led by Ken Jackson, who belonged to the EETPU. The AEEU merged with the Manufacturing, Science and Finance (MSF) to become Amicus in 2001. Amicus, the largest private sector union with 1.2m workers, was led by Derek Simpson since June 2002. Tony Dubbins, of the NGA in the Wapping dispute, became Joint Deputy General Secretary in 2004. Amicus merged with the Transport and General Workers' Union in May 2007 to become Unite the Union.
Amalgamations A large number of small unions amalgamated with the EETPU:Gary N. Chaison, Union Mergers in Hard Times: The View from Five Countries, pp. 175–184.
1980: Steel Industry Management Association, Telecommunications Staff Association, United Kingdom Association of Professional Engineers 1982: British Transport Officers' Guild 1983: Association of Management and Professional Staffs 1984: Rolls-Royce Management Association 1989: Association of British Professional Divers, Ministry of Defence Staff Association, National Association of Senior Probation Officers, Nelson and District Power Loom Overlookers' Association, Springfield Foreman's Association 1990: Haslingden and District Power Loom Overlookers' Association, Institute of Journalists Trade Union, National Association of Fire Officers, National Association of Power Loom Overlookers, Nationally Integrated Caring Employees, Prison Service Union, Television and Film Production Employees' Association 1991: Colne and District Power Loom Overlookers' Association 1992: British Cement Staffs Association
Election results The union sponsored many Labour Party candidates in each Parliamentary election.
Election Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position 1970 general election Swindon 25,731 55.5 1Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 289–312. Wakefield 27,352 58.1 1 Wandsworth Central 19,776 54.0 1 Feb 1974 general election Swindon 24,093 47.9 1Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 371–390. Tooting 18,795 48.3 1 Wakefield 27,032 51.3 1 Oct 1974 general election Swindon 24,124 51.8 1Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 391–411. Tooting 18,530 54.3 1 Wakefield 25,616 54.8 1 1979 general election Islington Central 13,415 51.5 1Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 406–431. Swindon 25,218 50.2 2 Tooting 18,642 51.9 1 Wakefield 27,124 50.9 1 1982 by-election Birmingham Northfield 15,904 36.3 1 1983 general election Birmingham Northfield 19,836 37.5 2 Caithness and Sutherland 3,325 14.3 3 Kingston upon Hull West 15,361 41.9 1 Swindon 20,915 36.7 2 Tooting 19,640 42.7 1 Wakefield 19,166 40.4 1 1987 general election Birmingham Northfield 20,889 39.2 2 Kingston upon Hull West 19,527 51.9 1 Tooting 21,457 44.2 1 1991 by-election Langbaurgh 22,442 42.9 1 1992 general election Folkestone and Hythe 6,347 12.1 3The Times Guide to the House of Commons April 1992, pp. 32–249. Gosport 7,275 13.6 3 Kingston upon Hull West 21,139 57.3 1 Langbaurgh 28,454 43.1 2 Tooting 24,601 48.2 1 Warley West 21,386 50.6 1
Leadership General Secretaries 1968: Frank Chapple 1984: Eric Hammond
General Presidents 1968: Les Cannon 1972: Frank Chapple (jointly with general secretary post) 1975: Tom Breakell 1986: Paul Gallagher
Plumbing National Secretaries 1968: Charles Lovell 1988: Bill Gannon
References
External links Catalogue of the EETPU archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick