The ISU is a British trade union representing some of the operational staff in the borders, customs and immigration functions of the Home Office.List of witnesses and job title, Commons Home Affairs Select Committee hearing - the Windrush Generation hearings 25 April 2018
The union was founded in 1981 as the Immigration Service Union. It was a split from the Society of Civil and Public Servants (SCPS),Steve Cohen, Immigration Controls, the Family and the Welfare State, p.321 founded in protest at the SCPS calling for the repeal of the Immigration Act 1971.Steve Cohen, Deportation is Freedom!, p.130
The ISU is politically independent and not a member of the Trades Union Congress. PCS, the SCPS's successor, sees ISU as a yellow union, as some senior managers encouraged its splitting off, although its independence has been certified by the Certification Officer.John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, p.450
Membership of the union reached 4,263 in 2006, but, in common with all Civil Service unions, fell after the ending of payroll wage check-off (subscriptions automatically deducted where workers have ticked to confirm they wish to be in any recognised union to their employer) in 2015. It declined to 3,018 in that year.ISU's audited Annual Return, year ending 31 December 2015" In 2020, membership stood at 3,043.ISU's audited Annual Return, year ending 31 December 2020 at page P2, note: submitted to the Certification Officer, certified, and republished by the UK government, see 1. By 2022, ISU membership stood at 3,803.ISU's audited Annual Return, year ending 31 December 2022 at page P2, note: submitted to the Certification Officer, certified, and republished by the UK government, see 1.
The ISU does not generally take industrial action.Susan Corby and Geoff White, Employee Relations in the Public Services: Themes and Issues In 2012, ISU members followed other public sector unions in agreeing to strike against changes to civil service pensions.Alan Travis, "Immigration workers to join civil service pension strike", The Guardian, 2 May 2012
General Secretaries 1981: P. J. Taylor 1997: Martin Slade 2003: Peter Stowe 2010: Paul Duckhouse 2013: Lucy Moreton 2019: Mark Gribbin
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