National Union Of Public Employees
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The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) was a British
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
which existed between 1908 and 1993. It represented
public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...
workers in local government, the Health Service, universities, and water authorities.


History

The union was founded in 1908 as the National Union of Corporation Workers, which split from the
Municipal Employees Association The Municipal Employees' Association was a trade union representing local government workers in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1888 as the London County Council Employees' Protection Association, to represent workers at the London ...
, following Albin Taylor's dismissal as General Secretary. The union became NUPE in 1928. NUPE grew rapidly during the post=-
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
expansion of the public sector, and especially during the 1960s and early 1970s. It grew from a membership of 250,100 in 1966 to 693,100 members in 1977, making it the fifth largest union in Britain. It was particularly successful in recruiting amongst sections of the workforce previously seen as a lower priority by rival trade unions (primarily the
TGWU The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900,000 members (a ...
and the GMWU), such as part-time women workers, and it was these members who made NUPE the largest manual workers' union in local government by the 1970s. NUPE had regional and area offices across the whole of Britain and was active in the mobilisation of employees in those parts of the public sector where it had substantial membership (local government, the NHS, the universities, and the publicly owned water authorities) against the attacks on trade union organisation and workers' rights by the Thatcher government from 1979. In 1993, NUPE merged with
NALGO The National and Local Government Officers' Association was a British trade union representing mostly local government "white collar" workers. It was formed in 1905 as the National Association of Local Government Officers, and changed its full ...
(the National and Local Government Officers Association) and COHSE (the Confederation of Health Service Employees) to form
UNISON Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...
. A similarly named trade union existed in Canada in the first half of the 20th century. A similarly named union exists in New Zealand as of 2012.National Union of Public Employees NZ
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General Secretaries

:1908: Albin Taylor :1925:
Jack Wills Jack Wills is a British clothing brand founded by Peter Williams (businessman), Peter Williams and Robert Shaw in Salcombe, Devon, in 1999. History Peter Williams (businessman), Peter Williams and Robert Shaw founded the brand in 1999. Willi ...
:1934: Bryn Roberts :1962: Sydney Hill :1968: Alan Fisher :1982: Rodney Bickerstaffe


References


External links


Catalogue of the NUPE archives
held at the
Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collect ...

Catalogue of Rodney Bickerstaffe's papers concerning NUPE
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick {{Authority control Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom 1908 establishments in the United Kingdom Government-provided school meals in the United Kingdom Public sector trade unions Trade unions based in London Trade unions established in 1908 Trade unions disestablished in 1993