The Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

which represented

clerical Clerical may refer to: * Pertaining to the clergy * Pertaining to a clerical worker * Clerical script, a style of Chinese calligraphy * Clerical People's Party See also * Cleric (disambiguation) Cleric is a member of the clergy. Cleric may a ...

and

administrative Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

employees.

History

The Clerks Union was formed in 1890 and later was renamed as the National Union of Clerks. Then, following rapid growth and amalgamation with several other unions, the name was again changed to the National Union of Clerks and Administrative Workers (NUCAW) with a membership of around 40,000. In 1940, NUCAW merged with the

Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries The Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries (AWCS) was a British trade union from 1912 to 1941. History The union formed in 1903 as the Association of Shorthand Writers and Typists and changed its name in 1912 to AWCS.white-collar sector in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

and across the country, and had particular success in recruiting in the

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

industry. In the 1960s its membership grew rapidly, but it was less successful in the 1970s, membership increasing by 18%, while that of its rival, the

Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs The Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) was a British trade union which existed between 1969 and 1988. History The ASTMS was created in 1969 when ASSET (the Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Techni ...

(ASTMS), nearly doubled. The union changed its name to the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) in 1972. It was the union at the centre of the

Grunwick dispute The Grunwick dispute was a British industrial dispute involving trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Chapter Road, Dollis Hill in the London suburb of Willesden, that led to a two-year strike between 1976 and 197 ...

in the 1970s. APEX, like its predecessors, was an

affiliated trade union In British politics, an affiliated trade union is one that is linked to the Labour Party. The party was created by the trade unions and socialist societies in 1900 as the Labour Representation Committee and the unions have retained close institut ...

of the British Labour Party and was a key influence on the right-wing of the Party, particularly as, until 1972, it enforced a rule preventing

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

s from holding positions in the union. Its relations with other unions were often difficult, as it competed not only with the ASTMS for members, but also with the National Union of Bank Employees and various

general union A general union is a trade union (called ''labor union'' in American English) which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organisation or a particular sector, as in a craft union or industrial union. A gene ...

s. In particular, a dispute over members at

General Accident General Accident plc was a large insurance business based in Perth, Scotland. It merged with Commercial Union in 1998 to form CGU plc. History The Norie-Miller years The Employers' liability act of 1880 opened a new area of insurance and one ...

was referred to the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

Disputes Committee and the fall-out led to APEX's general secretary,

Roy Grantham Roy Aubrey Grantham CBE (12 December 1926 – 25 October 2013) was a United Kingdom trade union leader who was the last general secretary of the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) which was involved in th ...

, failing to win re-election to the

General Council of the TUC The General Council of the Trades Union Congress is an elected body which is responsible for carrying out the policies agreed at the annual British Trade Union Congresses (TUC). Organisation The council has 56 members, all of whom must be proposed ...

. In 1989 APEX merged with the GMB trade union and now exists as a section within the GMB.

Election results

The union sponsored numerous Labour Party candidates, many of whom were elected:

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1890: W. Moritz :1890: W. M. Sutherland :Charles Dyer :1906:

Herbert Henry Elvin Herbert Henry Elvin (18 July 1874 – 10 November 1949) was a British trade unionist. Born in Eckington, Derbyshire, Elvin left school at the age of 14,''Report of the 49th Annual Conference'', Labour Party, p.38 although he later studied with t ...

:1941: Fred Woods :1956:

Anne Godwin Dame Beatrice Annie Godwin DBE (6 July 1897 – 11 January 1992), known as Anne Godwin, was a British trade unionist. Early life Born in July 1897 in Farncombe, Surrey, Godwin's father was a draper. She attended school in Godalming until age ...

:1963: Henry Chapman :1971:

Presidents

:1890: Wallas :1890: J. W. E. Hale : :1912: G. E. O'Dell :1914: R. J. W. Scott :1915: John Lindsley :1916: Charles Latham :1918: James McKinlay :1927: Hubert Hughes :1940:

William Elger William Elger (1891 – 6 November 1946) was a Scottish trade union leader. Born in London, Elger's father was Austrian, and his mother was Scottish. He relocated to Edinburgh and became a clerical worker. He became active with the Edinbur ...

:1946:

Bob Scouller Robert E. Scouller (died 1974) was a Scottish trade unionist. Scouller worked as a clerk in Greenock. He became a socialist, inspired by ''The New Age'' magazine. He joined the National Union of Clerks (NUC) in 1912, establishing a branch wit ...

:1951:

Helene Walker Helene Walker (1904 – December 1994) was a British trade unionist. Working as a clerk for a co-operative in Birmingham in the 1931, Walker joined the National Union of Clerks. She soon won election to the union's executive, and in 1946 was ...

:1961: David Currie :1972:

Denis Howell Denis Herbert Howell, Baron Howell (4 September 1923 – 19 April 1998) was a British Labour Party politician. He was a councillor on Birmingham City Council between 1946 and 1956. He was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham All Saints fro ...

:1983: Ken Smith

References

External links

GMB webpage on its history and that of its precursor unions
{dead link, date=October 2016 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
Catalogue of the APEX 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 ...

Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom 1940 establishments in the United Kingdom Clerical trade unions GMB (trade union) amalgamations Trade unions established in 1940 Trade unions disestablished in 1989 Trade unions based in London