The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, or more fully, the Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union (AMWU) ("The Metalworkers") is an Australian trade union that is registered with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
The AMWU is considered to be the most powerful left-wing union in the trade union movement. It is made up of five divisions, representing different industries or occupational groups: Vehicle division, Metal and Engineering division, the Food and Confectionery division, the Technical, Supervisory and Administrative division (for white collar workers) and the Printing division.
The AMWU has its origins in the amalgamation of four metal trade unions - the Boilermakers and Blacksmiths Society of Australia, the Federated Jewellers, Watchmakers and Allied Trades Union of Australia, the Sheet Metal Working Industrial Union of Australia and the Amalgamated Engineering Union - to form the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union (AMWU) in 1973. At its formation the AMWU had a membership of 171,000, making it the largest organisation in Australia.