Catalogue Number
NMLH.2018.143
Object Name
Membership Card
Title
'USDAW Union of Shop, Distributive & Allied Workers Membership Card'
Place
Fallowfield, Manchester
People
Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW)
Description
A dark yellow membership card issued by USDAW to Mrs D Mitchell. The card specifies which branch she belongs to, and that her membership is tied to her employment at BCS Ltd.
The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) is a UK trade union with around 360,000 members who work across a variety of industries including call centres, warehouses and supermarkets. The union was formed in 1947 by the merger of the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers and the National Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks. Some other unions have since merged in, including the Amalgamated Society of Boot and Shoe Makers and Repairers in 1955, and the Scottish Union of Bakers and Allied Workers in 1978.
Union membership can benefit workers as it allows the union to negotiate on their behalf during grievances, to negotiate pay rises and intervene if mass redundancies are threatened. Originally, a trade union would only represent a single profession, but over time it became more practical to have larger unions representing multiple professions, as USDAW does. Over six million people in the UK are union members in 2024, but during the industrial era where people tended to stay in one profession for most of their working life, membership was much higher.
