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.

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.

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