ISU (trade union)

The ISU is a British trade union representing some of the operational staff in the Borders, Customs and Immigration functions of the Home Office.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

The union was founded in 1981 as the Immigration Service Union. It was a split from the Society of Civil and Public Servants (SCPS),[8] founded in protest at the SCPS calling for the repeal of the Immigration Act 1971.[9]

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.[10][11]

Membership of the union reached 4,263 in 2006,[11] 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.[12] It declined to 3,018 in that year.[13] In 2020, membership stood at 3,043.[14] By 2022, ISU membership stood at 3,803. [15]

The ISU does not generally take industrial action.[16] In 2012, ISU members followed other public sector unions in agreeing to strike against changes to civil service pensions.[17]

General Secretaries

1981: P. J. Taylor

1997: Martin Slade

2003: Peter Stowe

2010: Paul Duckhouse

2013: Lucy Moreton

2019: Mark Gribbin

References

1. "About us". ISU.
2. Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: Fourth Report of Session 2019–21
3. Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: Fifth Report of Session 2012–13
4. Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: Sixth Report of Session 2012–13
5. List of witnesses and job title, Commons Home Affairs Select Committee hearing - the Windrush Generation hearings 25 April 2018
6. "ISU Membership Circular 20.04.18". Archived from the original on 2022-02-08. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
7. All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus 3-page findings: COVID-19 Variants, International Travel and Border Policy - May 2021
8. Steve Cohen, Immigration Controls, the Family and the Welfare State, p.321
9. Steve Cohen, Deportation is Freedom!, p.130
10. "Trade unions: The current list and schedule".
11. John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, p.450
12. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-03-10/debates/15031024000003/TradeUnionReform(CivilService) ^[bare URL]
13. ISU's audited Annual Return, year ending 31 December 2015"
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. Susan Corby and Geoff White, Employee Relations in the Public Services: Themes and Issues
17. Alan Travis, "Immigration workers to join civil service pension strike", The Guardian, 2 May 2012