NIPSA
 |
|
| Full name | Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1922 as Belfast and District Public Officers' Association |
| Members | 46,150 |
| Affiliation | ICTU |
| Key people |
Carmel Gates (President) Alison Millar (Gen. Secretary) |
| Office location | Harkin House, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Website | www.nipsa.org.uk |
Carmel Gates (President)
NIPSA or the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance is a trade union based in Northern Ireland and affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. It is the largest trade union in Northern Ireland with around 46,000 members. It is organised into two distinct groupings, the Civil Service Group and the Public Officers Group. The former caters for civil servants and the staff of public bodies employed on civil service terms and conditions, whilst the latter covers employees of education and library boards, health and social services boards, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, district councils, other public bodies and voluntary organisations.
Its current General Secretary is Brian Campfield (a member of the Communist Party of Ireland) its President is Carmel Gates (a member of the TrotskyistSocialist Party of Ireland) its Vice President is Janette Murdoch and its Treasurer is Tanya Killen, a member of Broad Left, which includes Socialist Party members. 23 of the 25 NIPSA Council members are members of Broad Left.
In the wake of the First World War and Partition of Ireland the Northern Ireland Civil Service was organised out of the remnants of the Dublin Castle administration. The Unionist Government set up six Ministries (Finance, Home Affairs, Education, Agriculture, Commerce and Labour) and a Prime Minister’s Office. It essentially mirrored the set-up in Great Britain, with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance becoming the Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
The earliest incarnation of what was to become NIPSA was the Belfast and District Public Officers’ Association (BDPOA) however it was short-lived, but this was entirely down to its own success, when it opened a Derry branch and became the Ulster Public Officers’ Association, its first General Secretary being John Walters.
In 1922 another organisation, The Association of Established Civil Servants, sprung up and sought Whitley recognition from the NICS, but this was met with resistance, not least from HM Pollock, the then Minister for Finance who instead suggested the establishment of “House Committees” with separate employee and employer sides, however this never materialised.
...
Wikipedia