| Administrative History | The origin of the National Union of Public Employees has been credited to the establishment of London County Council Employees Protection Society in 1888 (Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol. 1: Non-manual Unions (Westmead: Gower, 1980, p 165). This society was instrumental in forming the Municipal Employees Association in 1894, from which the breakaway National Union of Corporation Workers was formed in 1907. The National Union of Corporation Workers changed its name to the National Union of Public Employees in 1928.
The Municipal Employees Association lost many of its members to the National Union of Corporation Workers, and falling numbers eventually prompted its amalgamation with the General and Municipal Workers' Union.
An Aberdeen branch of the National Union of Public Employees was established by Mar. 1949. It was reorganised in Jan 1969, with separate branches created for its local authority (No. 1 Branch) and higher education (University Branch) sector members. A separate branch (No. 2 Branch) had been established for hospital employees in 1949?.
Further information about the development of the trade union movement and the history of individual trade unions in Aberdeen can be found in William Diack, 'History of the Trades Council and the Trade Union Movement in Aberdeen' (Aberdeen: Aberdeen Trades Council, 1939), and in Kenneth D. Buckley, 'Trade Unionism in Aberdeen 1870 - 1900' (Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1955). Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, 'Historical Directory of Trade Unions', 4 vols (Aldershot: Gower, 1980 - 1984) also contains useful information about the development of individual unions, at both the national and local level. |
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