title: Confederation of Health Service Employees
text: # 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.
  
  | Election | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Position |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | 1979 general election | Dudley West | Mike Hartley-Brewer | 29,109 | 49.1 | 2 |
  | 1979 general election | Ealing North | William Molloy | 26,044 | 43.6 | 2 |
  | 1979 general election | Fife Central | Willie Hamilton | 27,619 | 58.0 | 1 |
  | 1979 general election | Loughborough | John Cronin | 24,589 | 39.6 | 2 |
  | 1979 general election | Oldham West | Michael Meacher | 17,802 | 52.4 | 1 |
  | 1979 general election | Rhondda | Alec Jones | 38,007 | 75.2 | 1 |
  | 1983 general election | Central Fife | Willie Hamilton | 17,008 | 43.1 | 1 |
  | 1983 general election | Oldham West | Michael Meacher | 17,690 | 44.1 | 1 |
  | 1983 general election | Rhondda | Allan Rogers | 29,448 | 61.7 | 1 |
  | 1987 general election | Oldham West | Michael Meacher | 20,291 | 49.4 | 1 |
  | 1987 general election | Redcar | Mo Mowlam | 22,824 | 47.3 | 1 |
  | 1987 general election | Rhondda | Allan Rogers | 35,015 | 73.4 | 1 |
  | 1987 general election | Stoke-on-Trent North | Joan Walley | 25,459 | 47.1 | 1 |
  | 1987 general election | Workington | Dale Campbell-Savours | 24,019 | 52.4 | 1 |
  | 1992 general election | Falkirk West | Dennis Canavan | 19,162 | 49.8 | 1 |
  | 1992 general election | Oldham West | Michael Meacher | 21,580 | 52.8 | 1 |
  | 1992 general election | Redcar | Mo Mowlam | 27,184 | 56.0 | 1 |
  | 1992 general election | Rhondda | Allan Rogers | 34,243 | 74.5 | 1 |
  | 1992 general election | Stoke-on-Trent North | Joan Walley | 30,464 | 56.7 | 1 |
  | 1992 general election | Wallasey | Angela Eagle | 26,531 | 48.9 | 1 |
  | 1992 general election | Workington | Dale Campbell-Savours | 26,719 | 56.9 | 1 |
  
  ## Leadership
  
  ### 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
  