 While differing from Macdonald's union, it was happy to collaborate on matters of mutual agreement, and Macdonald spoke at several AAM conferences.By June 1871, the union had 9,000 members in the Aberdare and Rhondda valleys, and in the same year won a major twelve-week strike in Aberdare and the Rhondda in 1871, cementing its position in South Wales.A second major strike in South Wales in 1873 was also successful, while miners in Lancashire saw their wages rise greatly without having to take industrial action.