Frank Lynch (trade unionist)

Francis Joseph Lynch (1909–1980) was a British trade union leader and politician.

Lynch was active in the Labour Party from an early age, and served on the City of Salford council from 1934 until 1949.^[1] In 1937, he found work as a night patrolman and stoker at the County Mental Hospital in Prestwich, and joined the Hospital and Welfare Services Union.^[2] In 1946, this became part of the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE), and Lynch became a full-time organiser for the new union. In 1948, he was appointed as a regional secretary, then in 1954 he became a national officer, and in 1967 was elected as the union's assistant general secretary.^[1]

Lynch was elected as general secretary of COHSE in 1969, and set himself a target of doubling the union's membership of 69,000. He achieved this; when he retired, in 1974, membership had risen to 230,000.^[2]

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