ISU (trade union)
 | |
| Formation | 1981 |
|---|---|
| Type | Trade union |
| Location | |
| Members |  3,976 (2024)[1] |
General Secretary | Mark Gribbin |
| Website | theisu.co.uk |
Formerly called | Immigration Services 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.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
The union was founded in 1981 as the Immigration Service Union. It was a split from the Society of Civil and Public Servants (SCPS),[9] founded in protest at the SCPS calling for the repeal of the Immigration Act 1971.[10]
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.[11][12]
Membership of the union reached 4,263 in 2006,[12] 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.[13] It declined to 3,018 in that year.[14] In 2020, membership stood at 3,043.[15] By 2022, ISU membership stood at 3,803.[16]
The ISU does not generally take industrial action.[17] In 2012, ISU members followed other public sector unions in agreeing to strike against changes to civil service pensions.[18]
General Secretaries
[edit]- 1981: P. J. Taylor
- 1997: Martin Slade
- 2003: Peter Stowe
- 2010: Paul Duckhouse
- 2013: Lucy Moreton
- 2019: Mark Gribbin
References
[edit]- ↑ "ISU Form AR21 for year ended 31 December 2024" (PDF). GOV.UK. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
- ↑ "About us". ISU.
- ↑ "Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: Fourth Report of Session 2019–21".
- ↑ "Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: Fifth Report of Session 2012–13" (PDF).
- ↑ "Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: Sixth Report of Session 2012–13" (PDF).
- ↑ List of witnesses and job title, Commons Home Affairs Select Committee hearing - the Windrush Generation hearings 25 April 2018
- ↑ "ISU Membership Circular 20.04.18". Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
- ↑ "All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus 3-page findings: COVID-19 Variants, International Travel and Border Policy - May 2021" (PDF).
- ↑ Steve Cohen, Immigration Controls, the Family and the Welfare State, p.321
- ↑ Steve Cohen, Deportation is Freedom!, p.130
- ↑ "Trade unions: The current list and schedule".
- 1 2 John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, p.450
- ↑ "Trade Union Reform (Civil Service) - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. 28 February 2025.
- ↑ ISU's audited Annual Return, year ending 31 December 2015"
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Susan Corby and Geoff White, Employee Relations in the Public Services: Themes and Issues
- ↑ Alan Travis, "Immigration workers to join civil service pension strike", The Guardian, 2 May 2012
