Our history

These unions would later join forces with the ISTC, one of Community’s founding unions.

This fell short of union demands for an eight hour working day. Following years of pressure and campaigning from unions, the eight hour working day became widely accepted. It is now enshrined in UK law through the 1998 Working Time Regulations.

Two of the ISTC’s founding unions – the British Steel Smelters’ Association and the National Steel Workers’ Associated Engineering and Labour League are founded following strikes. Respectively, one to prevent workers being laid off which was successful, and the other for better pay which was unsuccessful.

National Union of Domestic Appliances and General Operatives (NUDAGO), which later joined Community, is formed. The union is founded in 1890, following a successful strike in the light metal industry in Rotherham.

On 1st January 1917, the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) is founded as a result of the merger of existing steelworkers’ union

Striking workers demanding a 40 hour week are met by police, troops and tanks. This is also known as “Bloody Friday” or “Black Friday”.

We only have the weekend as we know it today as a result of almost 100 years of campaigning and lobbying by trade unions.

In the UK, the Holidays with Pay Act of 1938 gives those workers whose minimum rates of wages are fixed by trade boards, the right to one weeks’ holiday per year. This is the first law on paid leave in this country, but it falls short of the two weeks trade unions have been demanding since 1911 and does not cover all workers. Workers will wait until 1998 for the more robust legislation we know today to be brought in.

The Professional Association of Teachers (later Voice: The Union for Education Professionals) is founded.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 is an attempt to equalise pay between men and women. It prohibits any less favourable treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions of employment. It has now been superseded by the Equality Act 2010.

You can trace the introduction of this important piece of legislation back almost 100 years to the factory act. However, it is argued that the Aberfan disaster where 166 children and 28 adults were killed as a result of the collapse of a colliery spoil tip, brought forward the regulations.

The British Union of Social Work Employees is formed.

National Union of Blastfurnacemen (NUB) transfers to the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC), which later became part of Community.

Wire Workers Union (WWU) transfers to the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC), which later became part of Community.

The Labour government bring in the National Minimum Wage Act and implement the EU Working Time Regulations. These changes meant workers could not be paid below a national standard and were granted 4 weeks annual leave.

The ISTC is joined by the Power Loom, Carpet Weavers and Textile Workers Union as well as the NLBD.

The government extends maternity leave to 26 weeks and increased maternity pay to £100 a week. The women members of KFAT play a huge role in securing modern maternity rights. In 2000 Harriet Harman in her frontbench role interviews women in KFAT about their experiences of being mothers in manufacturing. She visits six factories: R. Griggs & co, Loakes in Kettering, Courtaulds in Chesterfield, Pretty Polly in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Coats Viyella in Huthwaite and Burberry in Leicester. Many of the women struggle with trying to combine work with small children, returning to work after having their babies after only ten weeks. This leads to a major report on childcare called ‘Mothers in Manufacturing’ in which Harriet recommends maternity leave should be extended to a year, that maternity pay be increased to make this possible and that women should have the right to go back to work part-time after maternity leave.

When the pension fund for steelworkers at Allied Steel and Wire collapsed, the scheme members were left adrift. However, by joining together and with their unions support, they were able to secure compensation. Furthermore, after a battle between government and the steel unions at the European Court of Human Rights, the ‘Pension Protection Fund’ was included within the 2004 Pensions Bill which will protect workers pensions across the country for long into the future.

Community is formed as the ISTC and KFAT join together. These two traditional unions had deep roots in communities across the UK, and today our union maintains that connection. We are a voice for those communities, not just the people still working in our traditional industries.

The National Union of Domestic Appliance and General Operatives (NUDAGO), the union for people manufacturing white goods, joins Community.

The British Union of Social Work Employees, which included NSPCC employees, makes the decision to be part of Community.

The Labour government brings in the Equality Act. The Equality Act made it illegal for anyone to be discriminated against because of a ‘protected characteristic’. The protected characteristics are; age, gender reassignment, being married or in a civil partnership, being pregnant or on maternity leave, disability, race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Members of the Prison Service Union join Community in 2013. This means that Community now represents more people in privatised justice, custodial and immigration services than any other trade union.

UFS transfers into Community in 2017. UFS was a finance and insurance union.

Community joins forces with the Fabian Society to run a two year long project, calling for major reforms to improve work, empower workers and ensure the UK economy benefits from the introduction of new technologies.

Members of the Blue Chip Staff Association (BCSA) transfer into Community. BCSA was a small general union, this transfer brings hundreds of members who work right across the economy into the Community family.

The Independent Democratic Union (IDU), made up of individual members from across the UK, and the recognised union amongst the workforce at the AA transfers into Community. The Voice transfer brings with it tens of thousands of members in the education and early years sector into Community.

Following extensive campaigning by Community, our sister unions and the Labour Government to modernise the UK’s workplace legislative framework, the Employment Rights Act 2025 officially received royal assent and became law, strengthening your job security and enhancing fairness at work.

The first phase of the Employment Rights Act 2025 came into effect, introducing industrial action reforms and trade union regulations.

The second phase of the Employment Rights Act 2025 came into effect, bringing major updates to your rights at work. Key changes include “day one” rights for family and bereavement leave, immediate access to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), and an easier route to trade union recognition. Further changes included whistleblowing protections for victims of sexual harassment, enhanced protective awards for collective redundancies, increased employer accountability around the gender pay gap and menopause and streamlined rules for holiday recording.

The Fair Work Agency (FWA) was introduced to bring together existing enforcement bodies, as well as enforce employment rights, such as holiday pay and SSP.