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.

Confederation of Health Service Employees
Merged intoUnison
Founded1946
Dissolved1993
HeadquartersGlen House, High Street, Banstead[1]
Location
Members
216,000 (1980)[2]
PublicationHealth Services[1]
AffiliationsTUC, Labour

History

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The union was founded in 1946 with the merger of the Mental Hospital and Institutional Workers Union and the Hospital and Welfare Services Union, with the aim of having one union to represent workers in the National Health Service on its formation.

In 1993, COHSE merged with two other trade unions - NUPE (the National Union of Public Employees) and NALGO (the National and Local Government Officers Association ) - to form UNISON, the largest public sector trade union in the UK.

Major COHSE campaigns

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1948: Nursing Students Pay
1959: Unofficial Overtime ban
1962: Nurses Pay (Lets twist again)
1972–73: Ancillary Pay strikes (Low pay)
1974: Nurses Pay (Halsbury)
1974?: Private Patients Dispute
1979: Public Sector Pay (Winter of Discontent)
1982: NHS Staff Pay campaign (12%claim)
1988: Nurses Pay (Clinical Grading)
1989–1990: Ambulance Dispute

Election results

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The union sponsored Labour Party candidates at each Parliamentary election from 1979.

Election Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position
1979 general election Dudley West Mike Hartley-Brewer 29,109 49.1 2[3]
Ealing North William Molloy 26,044 43.6 2[3]
Fife Central Willie Hamilton 27,619 58.0 1[3]
Loughborough John Cronin 24,589 39.6 2[3]
Oldham West Michael Meacher 17,802 52.4 1[3]
Rhondda Alec Jones 38,007 75.2 1[3]
1983 general election Central Fife Willie Hamilton 17,008 43.1 1
Oldham West Michael Meacher 17,690 44.1 1
Rhondda Allan Rogers 29,448 61.7 1
1987 general election Oldham West Michael Meacher 20,291 49.4 1
Redcar Mo Mowlam 22,824 47.3 1
Rhondda Allan Rogers 35,015 73.4 1
Stoke-on-Trent North Joan Walley 25,459 47.1 1
Workington Dale Campbell-Savours 24,019 52.4 1
1992 general election Falkirk West Dennis Canavan 19,162 49.8 1[4]
Oldham West Michael Meacher 21,580 52.8 1[4]
Redcar Mo Mowlam 27,184 56.0 1[4]
Rhondda Allan Rogers 34,243 74.5 1[4]
Stoke-on-Trent North Joan Walley 30,464 56.7 1[4]
Wallasey Angela Eagle 26,531 48.9 1[4]
Workington Dale Campbell-Savours 26,719 56.9 1[4]

Leadership

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General Secretaries

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1946: George Gibson
1947: Cliff Comer
1953: Jack Waite
1958: Jack Jepson
1967: Dick Akers
1969: Frank Lynch
1974: Albert Spanswick
1983: David Williams
1987: Hector MacKenzie

Presidents

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1946: Claude Bartlett
1962: Ron Farmer
1965: Bob Vickerstaff
1976: Eric Wilson
1982: Sid Ambler
1987: Colin Robinson

References

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  1. ^ a b Marsh, Arthur (1984). Trade Union Handbook (3 ed.). Aldershot: Gower. p. 237. ISBN 0566024268.
  2. ^ David Farnham, Employee Relations in Context, p. 268.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 406–431.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g The Times Guide to the House of Commons April 1992, pp. 32–249.
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