Records of the National Union of Public Employees (Aberdeen No. 1 Branch)

Scope and Content

Branch and committee minutes, 1949 - 1959; Scottish area conference reports, 1949 - 1950; Scottish Universities Technicians' Conference report, 1950

Administrative / Biographical 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. Summarised details from each of these sources has been used in compiling this collection level description.

Arrangement

Arranged by record type, and chronologically therein

Access Information

Open, subject to signature accepting conditions of use at reader registration sheet

Acquisition Information

Deposited in the University in October 1968.

Other Finding Aids

Descriptive list available in the Reading Room, Special Libraries and Archives, University of Aberdeen. Contents of this list are searchable on-line at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/historic/collects/stiqcgi/prelim01.html , via the Historic Collections database.

Very brief collection level description available on Aberdeen University Library Catalogue, accessible online http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/library/

Alternative Form Available

No copies known

Conditions Governing Use

Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Special Libraries and Archives (e-mail: speclib@abdn.ac.uk ) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Appraisal Information

This material has been appraised in line with normal procedures

Accruals

No accruals expected

Related Material

No related material identified in this repository

Bibliography

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Additional Information

This material is original

Geographical Names