Initially, it operated in competition with the North East Lancashire Amalgamated Weavers' Association in part of its area, and it was therefore nicknamed the Second Amalgamation.

This was unusual; outside the cotton industry, very few women were members of trade unions.

[8] By 1937, membership had risen to 94,000, and the proportion of women had grown further, to a total of 75,000 of its members.

[4] For many years, the union campaigned against the practice of steaming in cotton mills.

In 1974, it merged with the National Union of Textile and Allied Workers to form the Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union.