The secretaryship was a part-time post, and Wilkinson continued to work as a weaver and, occasionally, as an overlooker, until 1880 when he became clerk of the North East Lancashire Amalgamated Weavers' Association. Its secretary, Thomas Birtwistle, founded the broader Northern Counties Amalgamated Association of Weavers, and in 1885, Wilkinson became secretary of this Second Amalgamation.
