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 into	Unison
Founded	1946
Dissolved	1993
Headquarters	Glen House, High Street, Banstead[1]
Location	United Kingdom
Members	216,000 (1980)[2]
Publication	Health Services[1]
Affiliations	TUC, Labour

History

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

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

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

General Secretaries

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

1946: Claude Bartlett

1962: Ron Farmer

1965: Bob Vickerstaff

1976: Eric Wilson

1982: Sid Ambler

1987: Colin Robinson

References

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

External links

• COHSE Blog
• Catalogue of the COHSE archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

• Organised labour portal