The FDA, formerly The Association of First Division Civil Servants, is a trade union for UK senior and middle management
civil servants and public service professionals founded in 1919.
[
]
Its over 18,000 members include Whitehall policy advisers, middle and senior managers, tax inspectors,
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
s and
statisticians, government-employed lawyers,
crown prosecutors, procurators fiscal, schools inspectors, diplomats, senior national museum staff, senior civil servants, accountants and
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
(NHS) managers.
[
]
Membership structure and affiliations
Its federal structure means that some sections of the union operate under separate branding. Three parts of the union have distinctive institutional features. Senior staff at
HM Revenue and Customs
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join the
Association of Revenue and Customs (ARC) which is also a certified trade union as well as a section of FDA. Managers in the
NHS
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
join Managers in Partnership (MiP), a joint venture with
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 ...
of which MiP members are also members.
Members in middle management (Higher Executive Officer and Senior Executive Officers) join Keystone.
The FDA is an affiliate of the
Trades Union Congress, the
Scottish Trades Union Congress
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists.
The STUC is a separate organisation from the English and Welsh T ...
, the
Wales TUC
The Wales TUC ( cy, TUC Cymru) is the co-ordinating body of trade unions in Wales. With 48 affiliated unions as of 2021, the Wales TUC represents nearly 400,000 workers.
Activities
The Wales TUC is an integral part of the Trades Union Congress ...
and the
Irish Congress of Trade Unions
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (often abbreviated to just Congress or ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is a national trade union centr ...
but is not affiliated to the
Labour Party or any other political party.
[ The FDA is also affiliated to ]Public Services International
Public Services International (PSI) is the global union federation for workers in public services, including those who work in social services, health care, municipal services, central government and public utilities. , PSI has 700 affiliated ...
.
Name
Despite often being known, particularly in the British press, as the "First Division Association",[
The original name, Association of First Division Civil Servants, was chosen because it represented first division clerks, as opposed to the Second Division Association, which represented more junior clerks. Although the terms first and second division clerks were abolished in the 1920s, it proved impossible to agree on an alternative name, and the name remained until 2000 when, following a motion to the union's annual delegate conference, the official name became "FDA".][
]
General Secretary
Dave Penman, formerly Deputy General Secretary, was elected unopposed as General Secretary in May 2012 and took up office from July 2012.
His immediate predecessors were Jonathan Baume (1997-2012) (who had previously been Assistant General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary),
Elizabeth Symons[
] (1989–96) and John Ward (1980–88). The first full-time General Secretary was Norman Ellis, appointed in 1974.[
]
In 1996, the then Labour Party leader Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
was criticised after he nominated the outgoing FDA General Secretary Liz Symons for a peerage.[
]
See also
* British Civil Service
Notes
External links
FDA website
{{Irish Congress of Trade Unions
Trade unions in the United Kingdom
1918 establishments in the United Kingdom
Public Services International
Trade unions established in 1918
Civil service trade unions
Trade unions based in London
Trade unions affiliated with the Trades Union Congress