ASTMS - The Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs was a British trade union, created in 1969 when ASSET (the Association of Supervisory Staff, Executives and Technicians) merged with the AScW (the Association of Scientific Workers) under the leadership of joint general secretaries: Clive Jenkins of ASSET and John Dutton of the AScW.
ASSET, the larger of the two unions, began as the National Foremen's Association and chiefly represented supervisors in metal working and transport. Covering both the public and private sectors, AScW largely represented laboratory and technical workers in universities, the National Health Service and in chemical and metal manufacturing; the AScW was the organisation for scientists with a conscience, and could name half-a-dozen Nobel prize winners amongst its membership.
By the end of 1970 Clive Jenkins had become sole general secretary of the union. With advertising and personal appearances on television he kept ASTMS in the public's eye, within 15 years the union had expanded from 65,000 members to a figure approaching 500,000. This was achieved both by individual recruitment and by merging with staff associations, such as the Medical Practitioners' Union, the United Commercial Travellers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland, the Union of Insurance Staffs and the Prudential Assurance Staff Association. The number of mergers was eventually to exceed 30.
In 1976 trade union activist Sheila McKechnie was appointed as the full time Health and Safety Director of ASTMS. McKechnie remained with ASTMS until her appointment as Chief Executive of the homeless charity Shelter.
In 1988 ASTMS was to merge with TASS (Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section), the federated white collar section of the AUEW (Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers) to form MSF (Manufacturing, Science and Finance). On January 1, 2002 MSF was to amalgamate with the AEEU (Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, a successor to AUEW) to form Amicus.
On 1 May 2007 Amicus merged with the TGWU to form Unite, which is the biggest trade union in the UK.