The Communication Workers Union is the biggest union for the communications industry in the United Kingdom with 300,000 members who work in the Post Office, British Telecom and other telephone companies, cable television companies, Alliance and Leicester plc and Girobank. It was formed in January 1995 when the Union of Communication Workers merged with the National Communications Union.
The Union of Communication Workers was formerly the Union of Post Office Workers, and as such its membership was recruited from the employees of the Post Office and businesses that were formerly part of the Post Office, hence British Telecom and Girobank (now part of Alliance and Leicester plc).
The Union is affiliated to both the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party.