John Simonds (26 June 1883 – 29 May 1945) 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 ( ...
leader.
Simonds qualified as a
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
. He became active in the
National Poor Law Officers' Association (NPLOA), rising to become its assistant general secretary in 1910, and was elected as general secretary in 1912. He tried unsuccessfully to bring about a merger with the Poor Law Officers' Union, while opposing unification with the
National Association of Local Government Officers
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 ...
(NALGO).
[Alec Spoor, ''White-Collar Union: Sixty Years of NALGO'', Heinemann, 1967, pp.102-107]
Poor law officers were employed by
Boards of Guardians
Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930.
England and Wales
Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the poor ...
. In 1929, these were abolished, and members' employment was transferred to local authorities. NALGO took the opportunity to try to recruit NPLOA branches individually. Simonds strongly opposed this, but was spurred to negotiated a merger. This took place in 1930, and Simonds was made NALGO's legal officer, given his background in law, and he created a legal department, with particular expertise in
superannuation
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
law.
In 1936, Simonds was promoted to become deputy general secretary of NALGO, and in 1943, he succeeded as its general secretary. However, he died unexpectedly only two years later.
[Alec Spoor, ''White-Collar Union'', p.220]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonds, John
1883 births
1945 deaths
General Secretaries of NALGO