Northern Textile Association Publications

The Northern Textile Association (NTA) traces its history to 1854 when a group known variously as the Hampden County Cotton Spinners' Association, the Hampden County Mills Agents' Association or the Hampden County Cotton Manufacturers' Association was formed. In 1865 the name was changed to the New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association (NECMA), and in 1906 in an effort to expand its influence the organization became the National Association of Cotton Manufacturers' (NACM). In 1953, the NACM filed incorporating papers to form the Northern Textile Association (NTA), and in 1956 NACM members voted to change the name to the Northern Textile Association. The organization continued under the NTA title until 2002 when a merger with the Knitted Textile Association resulted in its present name, the National Textile Association (NTA).

The NTA is a non-profit trade organization which represents textile manufacturers and industry suppliers with operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico.Their mission is to provide effective representation in Washington, DC for American fabric-forming companies and to promote the use of American-made fabrics for apparel, home furnishings, industrial and other markets.

Two associations, the New Bedford Cotton Manufacturers’ Association and the Fall River Textile Manufacturers Association, were formed early in the 20th century by textile manufacturers in the Fall River and New Bedford area to act in unison in matters pertaining to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment. The New Bedford Association’s first written contract with a textile union was negotiated in 1938; the first for the Fall River Association was in 1943. In 1945 the member mills of the two associations began to negotiate as a consolidated group with representatives of all production employees at the various mills who were represented by one bargaining agent. Each association continued to sign the subsequent agreements separately. The labor contract agreed upon was applicable to all of the production employees and specified the wages, hours, working conditions, etc., of those employees. Unions included the Textile Workers Union of America and the United Textile Workers of America. Some workers were also represented by the New Bedford Loomfixers’ Union.

In 1952 this arrangement was codified by the formation of the Fall River-New Bedford Textile Manufacturers Negotiating Group. In the articles of agreement set forth on December 22, 1952, the following mills were members: Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates with plants in Fall River, Adams, Holyoke and North Adams, Massachusetts, and in Albion, Anthony and Warren, Rhode Island; Border City Manufacturing Company; Bourne Mills; Foster Spinning Company; Howard Arthur Manufacturing Co.; Luther Manufacturing Company; Richard Borden Mills Corporation; and Sagamore Manufacturing Company, all located in Fall River. Additional members included Gosnold Mills Corporation, Hathaway Manufacturing Company, Soule Mill and Wamsutta Mills, all located in New Bedford. The purpose of the group was to formalize and continue the practice followed since 1945 of jointly negotiating labor contracts with whatever union represented the production employees of the manufacturing members. The group was also authorized to sign the agreements for all member mills. The first meeting of the group was held in January, 1953, and the first agreement signed by the Negotiating Group was in April, 1953. Wage re-opening negotiations in 1954 and contract negotiations in 1955 are also represented in the collection. The activities and negotiations of the group took place against the background of the long decline in textile production in New England and the movement of the industry to Southern states.