The National and Local Government Officers' Association 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 ...

representing mostly

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

"white collar" workers. It was formed in 1905 as the National Association of Local Government Officers, and changed its full name in 1952 while retaining its widely used

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

, NALGO. By the late 1970s it was the largest British white collar trade union, with over 700,000 members. It was one of three unions which combined 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 ...

in 1993.

Early history

The National Association of Local Government Officers, or NALGO, was founded in 1905 as an association of local guilds of municipal officers. The main impetus came from

Herbert Blain Sir Herbert Edwin Blain (14 May 1870 – 16 December 1942) was a British trade unionist and political activist. Blain was educated at Liverpool Technical School, then began his career as a clerk working for Liverpool Corporation.Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

in 1896 and, on moving to London, arranged the national conference in 1905 at which NALGO was formed. In 1909, the first full-time General Secretary,

Levi Hill Levi Hill (26 February 1816 − 9 February 1865) was an American minister in upstate New York who claimed in 1851 that he had invented a color photographic process. Borrowing terms previously introduced in France, Hill called his process " ...

(1883–1961), was appointed, and by 1914 NALGO’s membership included almost 70% of all British local government officers. Blain and Hill organised NALGO with a national delegate conference and regional and local branch structures. Its first aims were the setting up of a pension scheme; the improvement of the pay, conditions and status of local government officers; the abolition of nepotism (at the time rife in local government); and the welfare of members and their families. In 1917, a parliamentary committee chaired by J. H. Whitley MP recommended setting up joint committees of employers and workers throughout industry for consultations on pay and working conditions, and in 1919 the first

Whitley Council Whitley may refer to: Places ;United Kingdom *Whitley, Berkshire, a suburb of Reading *Whitley, Cheshire, a village near Warrington * Whitley, Coventry, a suburb of Coventry, West Midlands *Whitley, Essex, near Birdbrook * Whitley, Wigan, Greater ...

for local government was formed on NALGO's insistence. After a prolonged process of negotiations, NALGO and the employers agreed a national charter of pay scales in local government in 1946. Although Hill had previously remarked that "anything savouring of trade unionism is nausea to the local government officer", NALGO sought a certificate from the Registrar of Friendly Societies confirming its status as a trade union in 1920. Discussion on affiliation to the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

began as early as 1921, however, it would take until 1964 to be agreed. It amalgamated with various smaller unions including the National Association of Poor Law Officers in 1930. Membership continued to grow rapidly, reaching some 100,000 by 1940. Levi Hill retired as General Secretary in 1943, and was replaced by John Simonds.

National and Local

With the growth in membership in sectors outside local government such as health, gas and electricity, the union changed its full name in 1952, to the National and Local Government Officers' Association, while still retaining the acronym NALGO. It amalgamated with various smaller unions including the British Gas Staff Association in 1963. It reached 300,000 members by 1964. It finally became a TUC affiliate, after many years of fractious internal argument, in 1964. NALGO Building Society merged with the Leek and Moorlands Building Society in 1960. As the public sector expanded in importance from the 1950s to the 1970s, and British Government legislation such as the

Industrial Relations Act 1971 The Industrial Relations Act 1971 (c.72) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, since repealed. It was based on proposals outlined in the governing Conservative Party's manifesto for the 1970 general election. The goal was to stabil ...

simultaneously sought to curb trade union powers, some parts of the union became more radicalised. NALGO organised its first official

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

in Leeds in 1970, and its first national strike, of

social workers Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

, was in 1978/79. It also led the way as a campaigning organisation over

equal pay Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the full ...

and wider equality and international issues. Total membership rose to over 700,000 by 1977, by which time it was by far the largest UK public sector union. After the election of the Thatcher government in 1979, NALGO organised strongly in opposition to many of its policies, in particular privatisation, deregulation, and restructuring with the introduction of market mechanisms in local government, education, and the

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 " ...

. At the same time, at local level in much of the country many members maintained the old idea of NALGO as a staff association, and this explains why many so-called "NALGO" social clubs, sports teams and so on remained popular. NALGO provided a wide range of benefits for its members and opened one of the first

holiday camps A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term has fallen out of favour with term ...

in Britain, at Croyde Bay in north

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

. Shortly afterwards it built a second, larger camp at

Cayton Bay Cayton is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England, south of Scarborough. History Cayton is mentioned in the ''Domesday book'' as "Caitune". In 2010, Cayton won a Silver-gilt, at the Britain in Blo ...

near

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

. This was sold in 1976 but the Croyde Bay holiday centre is still owned and run by NALGO's successor, UNISON. NALGO merged with NUPE (the

National Union of Public Employees The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) was a British trade union which existed between 1908 and 1993. It represented public sector workers in local government, the Health Service, universities, and water authorities. History The union w ...

) and COHSE (the

Confederation of Health Service Employees The Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) was a United Kingdom trade union representing workers primarily in the National Health Service. History The union was founded in 1946 with the merger of the Mental Hospital and Institutional ...

) in 1993 to form

. NALGO Insurance Association was renamed UIA shortly afterwards.Change of Name
Registry of Friendly Societies, 6 August 1993

General Secretaries

*1905: Frank Ginn (Honorary Secretary) *1909:

*1943: John Simonds *1945: Haden Corser (acting) *1946: John Warren *1957: Walter Anderson *1973:

Geoffrey Drain Geoffrey Ayrton Drain CBE (26 November 1918 – 2 April 1993) was a British trade union leader who was General Secretary of NALGO (the National and Local Government Officers Association) from 1973 to 1983, when it was the third largest trade unio ...

*1983: John Daly *1990: Alan Jinkinson

Deputy General Secretaries

*1936: John Simonds *1943: Haden Corser *1950: Walter Anderson *1957: Geoffrey Drain *1973: George Newman *1976: Bill Rankin *1982: John Daly *1983: Alan Jinkinson *1990:

Dave Prentis David Prentis, Baron Prentis of Leeds (born 29 May 1948) is a British trade unionist and former General Secretary of UNISON, the United Kingdom's largest trade union. He was originally elected in 2000. He was re-elected in March 2005, with 77% ...

Presidents

*1906: Edward Ralph Pickmere *1907:

Homewood Crawford Sir Henry Homewood Crawford (12 June 1850 – 17 November 1936) was a British solicitor, prominent in the livery companies of the City of London and the National Association of Local Government Officers (NALGO). Crawford was educated at Than ...

*1924: Arthur P. Johnson *1931: Sam Lord *1932: Fred Marsden *1933: C. G. Brown *1934: Allan Wotherspoon *1935: G. W. Coster *1936: W. E. Lloyd *1937: W. W. Armitage *1938: J. L. Holland *1939: E. J. Stead *1943: Colin A. W. Roberts *1944: Alfred A. Garrard *1945: Frank Henry Harrod *1946: D. J. Parry *1947: Cyril J. Newman *1948: Philip H. Harrold *1949: Ernest A. S. Young *1950: Edward L. Riley *1951: Lewis Bevan *1952: Watson Strother *1953: Thomas Nolan *1954: L. H. Taylor *1955: Philip H. Harrold *1956: John Pepper *1957: Alfred E. Odell *1958: Albert E. Nortrop *1959: Norman W. Bingham *1960: Tom Belton *1961: Raymond Evans *1962: George R. Ashton *1963: Leslie W. G. Hetherington *1964: Charles A. Smallman *1965: Stephen Duncan *1966: Marian W. Curtin *1967: James G. Iles *1968: Edward J. Varley *1969: Tim J. Hutton *1970: Neil McLean *1971: Ellery H. Clayton *1972: Joe Besserman *1973: Jimmy J. Gardner *1974: Ron W. E. Hill *1975: Arthur H. Buckley *1976: Harold S. Corden *1977: Glyn J. Phillips *1978: Edward Alderton *1979: John A. Meek *1980: Peter Morgan *1981: John Allan *1982: Peter Holt *1983: Arthur Steer *1984: Bill Gill *1985: Norrie Steele *1986: Sheila Smith *1987: John Saunders *1988: Bill Seawright *1989: Rita Donaghy *1990: David Stockford *1991: Mike Blick *1992: Ralph Gayton

References

Sources

*Alec Spoor (1967) ''White Collar Union – sixty years of NALGO'' *George Newman (1982) ''Path To Maturity – NALGO 1965-1980'' *Mike Ironside and Roger Seifert (2001) ''Facing Up to Thatcherism: The History of NALGO 1979-93''

External links

A short history of NALGO
on th
Trade Union Ancestors
website. Includes a list of all national presidents, treasurers, general secretaries and executive committee members from 1905 to 1967
Catalogue of the NALGO archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
Catalogue of the NALGO Insurance Association Ltd archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick {{Authority control Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom 1905 establishments in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the London Borough of Camden Municipal workers' trade unions Trade unions established in 1905 Trade unions disestablished in 1993