[A-List] UK state: trade union bureaucracy

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

New TUC leader to mend fences
CATHERINE MacLEOD
The Herald, 19 December 2002

THE new general secretary elect of the TUC said yesterday that one of his
first tasks was to repair relations between unions and the government, which
reached a new low during the bitter firefighters' dispute.

Brendan Barber, 51, was chosen to succeed John Monks next year when he takes
up a post as head of the European TUC, based in Brussels.

Mr Barber, a father of two teenage daughters, has worked for the TUC since
1975, gaining respect across industry and Whitehall for being a back-room
"fixer".

He said he was in no doubt about the scale of the challenges facing the TUC,
which suffered a huge slump in membership and influence during the years of
Conservative rule.

"We must improve - indeed repair - our relations with government. If, as
some say, some people in this government don't know what modern unions are
for, then we have to keep prodding and pushing to help them understand."

Mr Barber, from Lancashire, boasts he is neither a Blairite nor a Brownite -
he does not like labels - and regrets the bitter words uttered recently on
both sides during the firefighters' dispute. He pleads for greater
understanding for workers in the public sector.

Mr Barber has a considerable agenda - a wish list of trade union rights and
a determination to modernise individual trade unions, whose membership of
seven million is less than a third of the total work force in the UK.

He is frustrated at the extent to which the government appears to be
responsive to business. He thinks they "look in that direction rather too
much".

A keen Europhile, Mr Barber hopes a euro referendum will be held, and he
will campaign for early entry to the single currency but, in the short term,
he wants the government to agree to "a clear programme addressing union
concerns and anxieties".

-----

New TUC chief accuses Blair of business bias

Kevin Maguire
Thursday December 19, 2002
The Guardian

The new leader of the TUC warned Tony Blair last night that his hardline
stand in the firefighters' dispute was damaging relations with all unions,
and accused the government of favouring business.

Brendan Barber, who has been formally announced as the successor to John
Monks as TUC general secretary, urged the prime minister to seek a
negotiated settlement. The confrontation, he said, had "left some bruises".

Mr Barber, who takes over the British union movement's leading job in May,
when Mr Monks becomes head of the European TUC, said Mr Blair's denunciation
of the firefighters as "Scargillite" was a mistake.

He said: "It's been damaging and it's strained relations because during the
course of the dispute things were said, and there was a kind of reversion to
stereotypes in some of the language used that caused some concern."

Mr Barber, who has been TUC deputy leader for nine years, complained that
Downing Street was "too respectful" of business figures and too little
concerned with the interests of workers.

He cited No 10's obsession with cutting red tape and curtailing the rights
of workers to lodge unfair-dismissal claims at employment tribunals - two
issues high on the priority list of the Confederation of British Industry.

"I think they are over-deferential to business - they look in that direction
too much," he said.

He proposes the establishment of a tripartite body on which ministers,
business chiefs and union leaders can discuss common issues.

He said Labour appeared to have "lost some direction" on employment issues
in its second term, compared with the first, when the minimum wage, European
social chapter and union recognition laws were introduced.

Mr Barber, 51, is an accomplished backroom fixer - colleagues say he buys
his shirts with the sleeves rolled up - who is firmly on the centre-right in
terms of the Labour party and trade unions.

His consensus approach and championing of partnership is being challenged
within the TUC as well as outside by elements of new Labour who would like
to see a defeat of the firefighters.

Although he was nominated by 41 of the TUC's 69 affiliated unions -
representing 96% of the 6.7m members - Mr Barber is politically at odds with
the left-wing "awkward squad" that has won a string of elections, including
the leadership of the big Amicus manufacturing union.

However, asked if he would describe himself as a Blairite, the general
secretary-elect said: "No - I'm against labels."

He maintained that the influence of the more militant wing had been
over-played, and insisted that a good proportion of members were committed
to some form of partnership.

Southport-born Mr Barber, a former TUC press officer, admitted that the
figures for union membership made "depressing reading" and that he would
fail if numbers were not increased.

The TUC is expected to appoint a woman, Frances O'Grady, to succeed Mr
Barber as deputy general secretary.

Mr Blair welcomed Mr Barber's election, describing him as a "friend and
colleague" for many years. "There will, of course, be issues where the TUC
and government won't agree, but I know that we will continue to tackle
disagreements together," said the prime minister.