- Rodney Bickerstaffe
Rodney Bickerstaffe (born
6 April 1945 ) has been president of the UKNational Pensioners Convention and was leader of Britain's largesttrade union ,UNISON until 2001.Bickerstaffe's mother was unmarried at a time when it was considered shameful to be a single mother. He lived for three years with his mother in east London in a home for unmarried mothers. He then moved to
Doncaster among his extended family. He was educated at Doncaster Grammar school and insociology at Rutherford College of Technology.Bickerstaffe became an organiser for the National Union of Public Employees (
NUPE ) in 1966 inYorkshire , rising through the ranks to be divisional officer of the northern division. He then became national officer responsible for members working in local government, universities and the water industry and in 1981 was appointed NUPEgeneral secretary . When NUPE,COHSE andNALGO merged to create UNISON in July 1993, Bickerstaffe became associate general secretary and was elected general secretary in November 1995.Bickerstaffe was a popular and highly-visible trade union leader, calling for better rights and fairer treatment for staff working in public services and those transferred to the private sector through national and local
privatisation s. Although he was not known for aggressive tactics, he was passionate in his campaigns against low pay and for the introduction of the statutory nationalminimum wage . At the 2000Labour Party Conference he moved the successful though controversial resolution to ensurepension s are uprated at a fair level, in line with earnings or prices, whichever is higher.At the 2004 Labour Party Conference,
Tony Blair referred to Bickerstaffe during his keynote Leader's Speech, at which point he was heckled. "I thought, that's funny - no-one boos Rodney Bickerstaffe," Blair quipped, referring to Bickerstaffe's lovable reputation.He retired from UNISON in 2001 and succeeded Jack Jones as president of the National Pensioners Convention in April 2001. The organisation champions the rights and voice of Britain's 11 million
pensioner s and campaigns for better pensions and healthcare. Bickerstaffe stood down in 2005 to focus on his international commitments and was succeeded by Frank Cooper. He chairs the Global Network which works with organisations inAsia ,Africa andLatin America and is President ofWar on Want .Bickerstaffe has honorary doctorates from
Keele University , theUniversity of Hertfordshire andSheffield Hallam University as well as the Freedom of the Borough from Doncaster metropolitan borough. He is married with four children and nine grandchildren.External links
* [http://www.natpencon.org.uk/ National Pensioners Convention website]
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