History of the Central Counties Combined Branch

The Central Counties Combined Branch of the Communication Workers Union represents members working in the telecommunications industry, who are predominantly based in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire.

The branch was formed in November 2006, by the merger of the Beds, Herts & Bucks Branch and the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Branch. Central Counties Combined Branch is the largest Telecoms constituency branch in the Eastern Region, and one of the ten largest Telecoms constituency branches nationally.

Old Branches

The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Branch was an amalgam of the old Oxford and the old Oxon & Bucks CWU Branches. The Branch had offices in Oxford, Milton Keynes, High Wycombe and Banbury.

The Beds, Herts & Bucks Branch was formed from the old Beds & Herts and the old Bedford Clerical CWU Branches in 1997. There were offices in Luton and Bedford.

The old Oxon & Bucks Branch contained the following ex-National Communication Union (NCU) Branches: North Oxon, Milton Keynes, Chilterns.

The old Beds & Herts ex-NCU branches were: Luton, Bedford Engineering, North Herts, Hemel Hempstead.

Prior to the advent of the NCU, the union was called the Post Office Engineering Union (POEU).

Neighbouring Branches

• ENGINEERING
  Hereford & Mid Wales; Northampton; Swindon; Thames Valley; West Midlands & Worcester.
• CLERICAL
  Birmingham, Black Country & Worcester; Leicester & Northants; Swindon Clerical HQ; Thames Valley & Chilterns.
• POSTAL
  Coventry Area; Eastern No 6; Gloucestershire Amal; HP Amal; Northamptonshire Amal; Oxfordshire Postal; South East No 5;  South West No 7; Thames Valley Amal; Worcester & Hereford.
• MERGED CLERICAL AND ENGINEERING
  Coventry; Gloucestershire Combined.
• MOTOR TRANSPORT
  South Central MT.

Businesses

We have a membership of over 2100, working in businesses like these:

BT PLC, O2, Cable & Wireless, NTL, Autoglass and Siemens. We are also organising workplaces in other telecoms businesses who have local sites, such as: Vodafone, Sitel, Alcatel and other cable companies.