Anderson was a member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE), and served for many years as its Manchester District Secretary.
[3] Austin died in 1891, and Anderson stood in the election to replace him, proposing a relatively conservative platform of maintaining the union's positions.
At the same time, the union agreed to a major reorganisation, including a full-time executive council and full-time regional officers; an orientation towards standing candidates in Parliamentary elections; the admission of apprentices into probationary membership; and the creation of a pension fund for members.
[6] In 1895, George Nicoll Barnes, one of the ASE's assistant secretaries, resigned his post, arguing that the union was insufficiently militant, and that the executive council monopolised power.
However, the following year, Anderson was dismissed by the union executive on a charge of "wilful neglect of duty".