By 1907, Leek had eight small trade unions representing textile workers, most of whom worked with silk.
That year, the Leek Textile Federation, and all the unions other than the Silk Twisters' Society affiliated.
It affiliated to the Labour Party, and at the 1918 UK general election, it successfully sponsored Bromfield as a Parliamentary candidate:[3][5] In October 1919, the unions merged, forming the Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades.
[3][1] In 1951, the union affiliated to the Amalgamated Weavers' Association, but this was not a success, and it left a few years later, in order to cut its expenses.
In 1965, it absorbed with the National Silk Weavers' and Textile Traders' Association, meaning that for the first time it had members outside Cheshire and Staffordshire, although only in a limited number of locations: Dunfermline, Farnworth, Great Yarmouth and Pontypridd.