It soon changed its name to the Journeymen Steam Engine and Machine Makers' Friendly Society, and focused on campaigning for shorter working hours and better pay for overtime.
It also attempted to regulate the trade, by campaigning against the employment of workers who had not completed apprenticeships, and to limit the number of apprentices in the industry.
[1] The union led an eight-month strike in 1836, which won a major victory in limiting the standard working day to ten hours.
[1][2] In 1846, the union's branches in Belfast, Rochdale and Newton-le-Willows began industrial action against piecework and systematic overtime.
Several employers took the union's officers to court, and they along with twenty of its members were convicted of conspiracy and illegal combination, and imprisoned.