The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) was a British

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 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, inf ...

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 Albin Taylor (1866–1936)''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007'' was a British trade union leader. Early life Born in Castle Cary in Somerset, Taylor began working as a half-timer when he was eight years old. He left ho ...

's dismissal as General Secretary. The union became NUPE in 1928. NUPE grew rapidly during the post WWII 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) to differentiate its ...

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 In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

. 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:

:1925:

Jack Wills Jack Wills is a British clothing brand founded in Salcombe, Devon, in 1999. History Peter Williams and Robert Shaw founded the brand in 1999. Williams was 23 when the first store opened at 22 Fore Street, Salcombe, and it was created with ...

:1934:

Bryn Roberts Bryn Roberts (7 April 1897 – 26 August 1964) was a Welsh trade union leader. Roberts grew up in Abertillery, leaving school at the age of thirteen to work at a colliery. He joined the South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF), and won a union ...

:1962:

Sydney Hill Sydney Hill (29 October 1902 – 17 August 1968) was a British trade unionist and politician. Background Hill grew up in Dudley. He left school at the age of fourteen and completed an apprenticeship in engineering. Career A keen trade un ...

:1968:

Alan Fisher Alan Fisher may refer to: * Alan Fisher (broadcast journalist) Alan Fisher is a Scottish broadcast journalist and war correspondent. For many years he worked at GMTV, but now works for international news channel Al Jazeera English, where he is ...

:1982:

Rodney Bickerstaffe Rodney Kevan Bickerstaffe (6 April 1945 – 3 October 2017) was a British trade unionist. He was General Secretary of the National Union of Public Employees (1982–1993) and UNISON (1996–2001), Britain's largest trade union at the time. He l ...

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 collecti ...

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