The Post Office Engineering Union (POEU) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. It represented engineering staff in the Post Office, mostly working in telecommunications.

History

The union was founded in 1915 when the Post Office Engineering and Stores Association and the Amalgamated Society of Telephone Employees merged, to form the Post Office Amalgamated Engineering and Stores Association. In 1922, following the establishment of the Irish Free State, the union's Irish section split away to form the

Irish Post Office Engineering Union The Communication Workers Union is a trade union in Ireland. The union was founded in 1922 as the Irish Post Office Engineering Union, splitting from the British Post Office Engineering Union following the establishment of the Irish Free Sta ...

.John P. Smethurst and Peter Carter, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', p. 456. In 1925, the Post Office Telegraph Mechanicians' Society joined the union.Post Office Engineering Union Research Department 1887-1994
/ref> However, by 1939, membership was only 39,000. By 1983, the POEU was the twentieth largest union in the UK, with membership around 130,000. In 1985, it merged with the Postal and Telecommunications Group of the Civil and Public Services Association, forming the National Communications Union.

Election results

The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in each Parliamentary election from 1966 onwards.

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1915:

Charles Howard Smith Charles Howard Smith (17 May 1888 – 23 July 1942) was a British diplomat. Smith was educated at Winchester and Brasenose College, Oxford, before joining the British Foreign Office in 1912. He remained in the diplomatic service throughout W ...

:1938: John Edwards :1947: Douglas Coward :1953:

Charles Delacourt-Smith Charles George Percy Delacourt-Smith, Baron Delacourt-Smith (25 April 1917 – 2 August 1972) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. Background and education Born in Windsor and named after his father, he was the only son of ...

:1972: Bryan Stanley

Presidents

:1915: E. W. Bennett :1921: H. A. Barclay :1924: E. W. Goodwin :1926: H. G. Hill :1933: C. T. Saunders :1934: E. W. Goodwin :1935: C. J. Connelly :1936: A. V. Games :1939: Ernie Power :1951: W. J. A. Hughes :1952: L. G. Fox :1955: W. J. Jones :1956: Stan Rosser :1970: John Scott-Garner

References

External links

Catalogue of the POEU 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 collecti ...

Catalogue of the POESA archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick Trade unions established in 1915 Trade unions disestablished in 1985 Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Postal trade unions 1915 establishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-trade-union-stub