Collection

This collection contains: union rules, 1907-1986; records concerning reorganisation and revision of rules, c1973-1991; minutes and papers of executive council, various committees, and national and area conferences, other administrative correspondence and papers, c1905-1993; video recordings of annual conferences and other activities, 1986-1994; accounts, 1907-1979 (with gaps); records concerning national joint councils and similar bodies, pay claims, industrial action, political activity, relations with other trade unions and other operational matters, 1898-1993; quarterly area membership totals, 1957-1961; journals, circulars and other campaigning and recruitment material, 1905-1993; records concerning the NUPE membership research programme, 1987-1988, and other membership surveys, 1980s-1993; records assembled or created in connection with research into NUPE's history, (1877)-1992; other research records, 1913-1987; original and photocopied branch records, 1892-c1893. There are additional NUPE records within the NALGO archive.

261 boxes (223 [MSS.281], 5 [MSS.389], 3 [556], 26 [864], 1 [1377], 3 [1404])

The National Union of Public Employees traces its origins from the London County Council Employees' Protection Society which was founded in 1888. It became the Municipal Employees' Association in 1894. The National Union of Corporation Workers, which initially seems to have called itself the Municipal Workers' Society, broke away from the Municipal Employees' Association in 1907-1908; it changed its name to the National Union of Public Employees in 1928. In 1993 the union amalgamated with the National and Local Government Officers' Association (NALGO) and the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) to form UNISON. Reference: W.W. Craik, 'Bryn Roberts and NUPE', London, 1955; B. Dix and S. Williams, 'Serving the public - building the union : the history of the National Union of Public Employees', Vol.1, 'The forerunners 1889-1928'. London, 1987. Articles on the history of NUPE: Fryer, R. H. (Bob) and Williams, Stephen, 'Remembering and Honouring NUPE: A Response to Dave Lyddon’s Review Essay on 'Leadership and Democracy'' [the 2nd volume of Fryer's and Williams' history of the union], Historical Studies in Industrial Relations (2018), 39, (1), 205–224 (https://doi.org/10.3828/hsir.2018.39.7). Fryer, R. H. (Bob), 'Reforming Trade-Union Governance: The Reorganization of the National Union of Public Employees', Historical Studies in Industrial Relations (2019), 40, (1), 103–116 ('Reforming Trade-Union Governance: The Reorganization of the National Union of Public Employees', Historical Studies in Industrial Relations (2019), 40, (1), 103–116 (https://doi.org/10.3828/hsir.2019.40.5). Fryer, R. H. (Bob) and Williams, Stephen, 'Latecomers to Trade-Union Democracy: The Emergence, Growth, and Role of Union Stewards in the National Union of Public Employees', Historical Studies in Industrial Relations (2019), 40, (1), 117–152 (https://doi.org/10.3828/hsir.2019.40.5).

The collection has not been weeded for duplicates.

Written permission from UNISON, the successor union, is required for access to unpublished records in this collection which are less than 15 years old (shown as closed in the catalogue). UNISON contact details are available from the Modern Records Centre. A few items are closed because they contain personally sensitive information.

Open

Records of the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE), the National and Local Government Officers' Association (NALGO); the National Ambulance Services Association

Papers of Professor R H 'Bob' Fryer concerning research on behalf of NUPE; papers of Alan Fisher, General Secretary of NUPE from 1968-1982. Papers of Rodney Bickerstaffe, General secretary of NUPE from 1982 to 1993. Memoirs of National Union Public Employees and UNISON officials.

English