The union originated in 1881, when the British-based Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (ASC&J) founded a branch in Cape Town.
The ASC&J became the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers, and the South African section maintained its affiliation.
Membership declined to only 500 by 1914, but under the leadership of Harry Green, it grew rapidly, and by 1921 had more than 3,000 members, about half in Transvaal.
[1] In 1926, the union gained independence from its British parent,[1] and by 1945 it had grown to 5,837 members.
Almost all its members were white; it admitted coloured and Indian workers in the Western Cape, where they formed a majority of the membership.