The Civil Service Union (CSU) was a

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 ...

in the United Kingdom which existed between 1917 and 1988. It represented lower-paid staff within the

British Civil Service His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...

such as cleaners and messengers.

History

The union was formed in 1917 as the Association of Government Messengers and Attendants and later became the Government Minor and Manipulative Grades Association. The union primarily represented staff who worked in the Civil Service, but also in other public organisations. The CSU was seen as being more militant than other unions within the civil service and was, along with the

Civil and Public Services Association The Civil and Public Services Association (CPSA) was a trade union in the United Kingdom, representing civil servants. History The union was founded in 1921, when the Civil Service Clerical Union and the Clerical Officers' Association merged ...

, the first to adopt a strike policy backed by a fighting fund, in 1969. The CSU also supported introducing a

closed shop A pre-entry closed shop (or simply closed shop) is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times to remain employed. This is different fr ...

policy within the civil service. By the late 1970s the CSU had 46,827 members, of whom 45,732 worked in the civil service. In January 1988 the union joined with the Society of Civil and Public Servants to form the

National Union of Civil and Public Servants The National Union of Civil and Public Servants (NUCPS) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was formed in 1988 with the merger of the Civil Service Union and the Society of Civil and Public Servants. John Sheldon, former Gen ...

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1933: Dick Gifford :1943: Victor Carvell :1963:

John Vickers Sir John Vickers (born 7 July 1958) is a British economist and the Warden of All Souls College, Oxford. Education Vickers studied at Eastbourne Grammar School and Oriel College, Oxford. He graduated with a DPhil from the University of Oxford. ...

:1977: Les Moody :1982: John Sheldon

Deputy General Secretaries

:1944: Robert Anderson :1953: ''Vacant'' :1954: Zed Smith :1960:

Jon Vickers Jonathan Stewart Vickers, (October 29, 1926 – July 10, 2015), known professionally as Jon Vickers, was a Canadian heldentenor. Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a ...

:1962: Les Moody :1978: John Sheldon :1982:

Presidents

:1933: W. Ewart Llewellyn :1938: George McDouall :1945: Harold Newton :1967: Monty Rose :1984: Margaret Morrison

References

External links

Catalogue of the CSU archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick {{Authority control Trade unions established in 1917 Trade unions disestablished in 1988 Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Civil service trade unions 1917 establishments in the United Kingdom