The Civil Service Union (CSU) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1917 and 1988. It represented lower-paid staff within the British Civil Service such as cleaners and messengers.
History The union was formed in 1917 as the Association of Government Messengers and Attendants and later became the Government Minor and Manipulative Grades Association. The union primarily represented staff who worked in the Civil Service, but also in other public organisations.
The CSU was seen as being more militant than other unions within the civil service and was, along with the Civil and Public Services Association, the first to adopt a strike policy backed by a fighting fund, in 1969. The CSU also supported introducing a closed shop policy within the civil service. By the late 1970s the CSU had 46,827 members, of whom 45,732 worked in the civil service. In January 1988 the union joined with the Society of Civil and Public Servants to form the National Union of Civil and Public Servants.
Leadership General Secretaries 1933: Dick Gifford 1943: Victor Carvell 1963: John Vickers 1977: Les Moody 1982: John Sheldon
Deputy General Secretaries 1944: Robert Anderson 1953: Vacant 1954: Zed Smith 1960: Jon Vickers 1962: Les Moody 1978: John Sheldon 1982:
Presidents 1933: W. Ewart Llewellyn 1938: George McDouall 1945: Harold Newton 1967: Monty Rose 1984: Margaret Morrison
References
External links Catalogue of the CSU archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick