The Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) was a British and Irish trade union, operating in the construction industry. It was founded in 1971, and merged into Unite on 1 January 2017. It was affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party, as well as to the Building and Wood Workers' International and the EFBWW, European Federation of Building and Wood Workers. History Formation UCATT was formed in 1971 following the merger of the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers (AUBTW), the Association of Building Technicians and the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers and Decorators, which had itself been founded the previous year from a merger of the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers (ASW) and the Amalgamated Society of Painters and Decorators (ASPD). The merged union was initially known as the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers, Painters and Builders, but changed its name later in the year. Its first general secretary was Sir George Smith, formerly general secretary of the ASW, who was directly elected by the membership. Its Executive at the time incorporated paid officials who had been selected by an electoral process within the industry. National strike of 1972 In 1972, shortly after its formation, UCATT along with the GMWU and TGWU, two sister unions involved in construction and civil engineering, was involved in a major national joint industrial dispute. For the first time in the building industry, workers all over the country went on strike, demanding a minimum wage of £30 a week and abolition of the 'Lump Labour Scheme', which institutionalised casual cash-paid daily labour without employment rights. The 12-week stoppage affected many major sites, effectively forcing employers to negotiate. The Building Workers’ Charter was actively involved in organising the strike. The 'Shrewsbury Two' Unionised workers used flying pickets to seek support from workers on the lump. On 6 September 1972, UCATT and TGWU bussed members from North Wales and Chester to picket building sites in Shrewsbury. Despite confrontations with site management, the police made no arrests on the day. Five months after the strike, at a time when some of the strikers' aims had been largely settled, several building workers were investigated for alleged sabotage and vandalism during the dispute. Some were subject to high-profile police investigation, under pressure from major contractors and politicians anxious to suppress the emergence of organised labour in the building industry, and 24 building workers were convicted and six