2.2) The Post War Boom
After the war the Trade Union Movement grew rapidly.
In 1915 the NAUSAW&C had agreements with 472 companies. By 1920 they had 1,250. The membership more than doubled during that period to 86,009.
In London, major strikes took place at John Lewis and the Army and Navy Stores and in February 1920 following a mass meeting, 'house committees' were elected for every large store in the West End of London.
Attempts to amalgamate with the AUCE foundered on differences over which groups of workers they should organise.
The NAUSAW&C wanted only distributive workers to be members, whereas the AUCE organised both distributive workers in the Co-operative Societies and the production workers employed by the CWS. The latter were employed in a wide variety of industries, including flour milling, jam and confectionery production and boot and shoe manufacturing.
After the failure of amalgamation talks with the NAUSAW&C over this issue, the AUCE decided to go one stage further and recruit workers employed outside the Co-operative Movement. In 1920, this decision was confirmed with the amalgamation of the AUCE with the National Warehouse and General Workers' Union to form NUDAW - the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers.
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