Welcome to Battersea & Wandsworth Trades Union Council (BWTUC)

Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Union Council (BWTUC) is the south west London arm of the international trade union movement of over 200 million strong global union movement.

BWTUC is made up of elected delegates from trades unions branches whose members live or work in the borough. These branches cover workers across the economy from education, health, retail and wholesale distribution, communications, transport, construction and other parts of the service sector. The Governing body is the General Committee that meets on the second Monday evening of the month at Clapham Junction. See notice of the next meeting of the Council. 

BWTUC is an independent unincorporated body that is registered with the Trades Union Congress as the recognized trades union council for the borough of Wandsworth.

The organisation was first established in Battersea in 1894 by the prominent then leader of the labour movement John Burns. John Burns was the second ever Labour MP, alongside Kier Hardy,  to be elected to Parliament when he won the Battersea seat in 1892. The Wandsworth arm was founded in 1904. The two organizations merged in 1974 after the London borough of Wandsworth was formed in 1965.

The organisation has an illustrious history spanning more than 125 years. Some of the highlights of this history is covered in the history section of this website. More history is on the walls of  the Bread and Roses pub in Clapham Manor Street which is owned by BWTUC. In the John Burns room there is a copy of the  portrait of John Burns that is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square.

BWTUC is unique in having a fundraising trading arm. It is the sole owner of the Workers Beer Company (WBC) that runs bars at some of the UK and Ireland’s best known festivals. The Company has a pub with a fringe theatre: Bread and Roses in Clapham Manor Street. For more details on Workers Beer Company and the Bread and Roses pub and theatre please check the website links