The Amalgamated Metal Workers Union originally formed in 1973 from the amalgamation of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, the Sheet Metal Working, Agricultural Implement and Stovemaking Industrial Union of Australia, the Boilermakers' and Blacksmiths' Society of Australia, and the Federated Jewellers. In 1976 the union amalgamated with the Federated Shipwrights' & Ship Constructors' Association of Australia to become the Amalgamated Metal Workers & Shipwrights Union. In 1983 it joined the Federated Moulders (Metals) Union of Australia to become the Amalgamated Metals Foundry and Shipwrights' Union. It reverted to the name Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union in 1985 and operated until 1991 when it amalgamated with the Association of Draughting Supervisory & Technical Employees to become the Metals & Engineering Workers' Union.

Established in 1851, the original Amalgamated Engineering Union was a branch of the British union. It was registered with the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court in 1905 and became known as the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. In 1920 it amalgamated with ten other engineering and allied trade unions and changed its name to the Amalgamated Engineering Union, Australian Section in 1921. In 1968 the union became autonomous from its parent body in Britain, shortening its name to the Amalgamated Engineering Union to reflect this. In mid-June 1972 the AEU began a series of amalgamations with the Sheet Metal Workers, Blacksmiths & Boilermakers and Federated Jewellers to form the Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union by 1973.

John (Jack) Garland was born on 8 April 1922 and joined the Daceyville Branch of the Amalgamated Engineering Union as an Apprentice Toolmaker in 1941. In December 1948 he transferred to the Bondi Junction Branch of the AEU. From June 1957 he was the AEU Federal General Secretary, and upon amalgamation with the Boilermakers' and Blacksmiths' Society became Joint National Secretary in January 1972. He resigned from the union on 23 October 1981 to take up a position as an Australian Labor Party MLC in the New South Wales parliament.