title: Furniture, Timber and Allied Trades Union
text: # Furniture, Timber and Allied Trades Union
  
  The Furniture, Timber and Allied Trades Union (FTAT) was a trade union in the United Kingdom.
  
  ## History
  
  The union was founded in 1971 by the merger of the National Union of Furniture Trade Operatives (NUFTO) and the Amalgamated Society of Woodcutting Machinists. In 1978, the National Union of Funeral Service Operatives merged with it, while the National Society of Brushmakers and General Workers joined in 1983. The following year, its total membership was 85,407. The union was a member of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions.
  
  Initially, the union had six trade groups, reduced to five in the 1980s: upholstery, soft furnishing and bedding, woodcutting machinists, funeral services, flat glass and processing, and supervisory and clerical.
  
  The union was known for its left-wing outlook, inherited from NUFTO. In the 1981 Labour Party deputy leadership election, it supported Tony Benn. Some of FTAT's Silentnight members, based in Barnoldswick, were involved in Britain's longest ever strike, from 1985 until 1987.
  
  By 1993, membership was down to 31,642, and the union merged with the GMB, forming the bulk of its new "Construction, Furniture, Timber and Allied" section.
  
  ## Election results
  
  The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in several Parliamentary elections.
  
  | Election | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Position |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | 1974 Feb general election | Hackney South and Shoreditch | Ronald Brown | 18,580 | 59.6 | 1 |
  | 1974 Feb general election | Wycombe | William Frederick Back | 18,822 | 29.5 | 2 |
  | 1974 Oct general election | Hackney South and Shoreditch | Ronald Brown | 17,333 | 64.0 | 1 |
  | 1974 Oct general election | Wycombe | William Frederick Back | 18,052 | 30.8 | 2 |
  | 1979 general election | Hackney South and Shoreditch | Ronald Brown | 14,016 | 54.1 | 1 |
  
  ## General Secretaries
  
      1971: Alf Tomkins
      1975: Robert Shube
      1978: Ben Rubner
      1986: Colin Christopher
  