The Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) 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.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
trade union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
which represented
clerical
Clerical may refer to:
* Pertaining to the clergy
* Pertaining to a clerical worker
* Clerical script, a style of Chinese calligraphy
* Clerical People's Party
See also
* Cleric (disambiguation)
* Clerk (disambiguation)
{{disambiguation ...
The Clerks Union was formed in 1890 and later was renamed as the National Union of Clerks. Then, following rapid growth and amalgamation with several other unions, the name was again changed to the National Union of Clerks and Administrative Workers (NUCAW) with a membership of around 40,000.
In 1940, NUCAW merged with the
Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries
The Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries (AWCS) was a British trade union from 1912 to 1941.
History
The union formed in 1903 as the Association of Shorthand Writers and Typists and changed its name in 1912 to AWCS.white-collar sector in the
City of London
The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
and across the country, and had particular success in recruiting in the
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
industry. In the 1960s its membership grew rapidly, but it was less successful in the 1970s, membership increasing by 18%, while that of its rival, the
Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs
The Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) was a British trade union which existed between 1969 and 1988.
History
The ASTMS was created in 1969 when ASSET (the Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Techn ...
(ASTMS), nearly doubled.
The union changed its name to the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) in 1972. It was the union at the centre of the Grunwick dispute in the 1970s.
APEX, like its predecessors, was an
affiliated trade union
In British politics, an affiliated trade union is one that is linked to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. The party was created by the trade unions and socialist societies in 1900 as the Labour Representation Committee and the unions have reta ...
of the British Labour Party and was a key influence on the right-wing of the Party, particularly as, until 1972, it enforced a rule preventing
communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
s from holding positions in the union. Its relations with other unions were often difficult, as it competed not only with the ASTMS for members, but also with the National Union of Bank Employees and various
general union
A general union is a trade union (called ''labor union'' in American English) which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organisation or a particular sector, as in a craft union or industrial union. A gen ...
s. In particular, a dispute over members at
General Accident
General Accident plc was a large insurance business based in Perth, Scotland. It merged with Commercial Union in 1998 to form CGU plc.
History
The Norie-Miller years
The Employers' Liability Act 1880 ( 43 & 44 Vict. c. 42) opened a new are ...
was referred to the
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...
Disputes Committee and the fall-out led to APEX's general secretary,
Roy Grantham
Roy Aubrey Grantham CBE (12 December 1926 – 25 October 2013) was a United Kingdom trade union leader who was the last general secretary of the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) which was involved in ...
, failing to win re-election to the
General Council of the TUC The General Council of the Trades Union Congress is an elected body which is responsible for carrying out the policies agreed at the annual British Trades Union Congresses (TUC).
Organisation
The council has 56 members, all of whom must be proposed ...
.
In 1989 APEX merged with the GMB trade union and now exists as a section within the GMB.
Election results
The union sponsored numerous Labour Party candidates, many of whom were elected:
Roy Grantham
Roy Aubrey Grantham CBE (12 December 1926 – 25 October 2013) was a United Kingdom trade union leader who was the last general secretary of the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) which was involved in ...
UK labour law
United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK have a minimum set of employment rights, from Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equity (legal concept), equity. ...
*
List of UK trade unions
This is a list of trade unions in the United Kingdom formed under UK labour law. The criteria for being an independent trade union, free from employer influence and domination, are set out in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act ...
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 collect ...