In Brendan Barber’s office there is a proudly displayed photograph of him
blowing a raspberry at the TUC annual congress. Well, actually, the TUC
General Secretary was blowing a raspberry at The Times after a
leader criticising the unions had described him as “the normally sensible
Brendan Barber”. He wanted to show he wasn’t sensible.
But he is, normally.
Mr Barber, like his predecessor John Monks and many other leaders of the TUC,
steers a moderate course through trade unionism and its relations with the
Government and business. The TUC, unlike its member unions, is not
politically affiliated to Labour. The umbrella organisation also has to try
to represent the broad view of the union movement. Both of these factors
encourage restraint rather than megaphone diplomacy.
Yet in the past that restraint has triggered its own difficulties,
particularly around the time of Mr Barber’s election four years ago, when a
newly elected group of more left-leaning union leaders – the appropriately
named “awkward squad” – became impatient for greater clamour from the TUC.
They got a certain amount of it, but then they, too, calmed down. Some of
them even decided that Mr Barber did a good job, especially during tortuous
negotiations with British Airways in the Gate Gourmet dispute.
When the awkward squad was in its ascendency and the unions felt more
militant, their calls were often for Tony Blair to quit and for Labour to
turn to the Left. One has happened, but the unions will be lucky if they get
both. Their power to call the shots for a change in Labour Party policies is
stymied by the fact that Gordon Brown is the only serious contender to lead
the party. Unite, the new super-union formed from the merger of the T&G
and Amicus, is throwing its weight behind Jon Cruddas, the MP for Dagenham,
as a contender of the Left for deputy leader in the hope that he can be a
check on Mr Brown. But that is not much of a commanding influence.
Mr Barber is calling for Mr Brown to do more for vulnerable workers – those
working for agencies without decent contracts, migrant workers and those on
the minimum wage. He believes that vulnerable working has grown in tandem
with globalisation as companies seek to cut costs in the face of
international competition.
He also thinks that governments are paying scant regard to the social costs of
accelerating international capitalism. “What we need is a much clearer
narrative about the social vision of globalisation – that people crunching
numbers about the global economy is not going to be persuasive with ordinary
people, who see the downside of globalisation.”
That downside, he says, is when jobs are moved offshore and there is a race to
the bottom in terms of pay and conditions.
Mr Barber wants to see more cooperation between governments and international
campaigns, such as the Make Poverty History movement, to press home the need
to impose social conditions on globalisation.
He will get some mileage on this from Mr Brown, who has clearly moved on Third
World debt, but how far Mr Brown will want to translate a broad commitment
to social justice into detailed employment protection remains to be seen.
The Chancellor is an enthusiast for the American economic model, which Mr
Barber sees as triggering substantial social divides.
“I’m not so worried he is bewitched by the US. He is clearly an admirer of
their entrepreneurialism. But I hope he is also sensitive to the huge
inequalities, such as the number of people living in poverty, that the
American system has.”
Mr Barber sees the United States as being largely to blame for the
proliferation of inflated executive pay awards, as British and European
companies use the international market to pump up directors’ pay, saying
that you have to pay for talent in a globalised world. “But that same
argument is used to suppress employees’ wages, with companies saying that
they that have to reduce costs to compete internationally.”
Mr Barber endorses the naming and shaming of big companies that use
contractors paying low wages, backing the moves made by the T&G in its
campaigns to raise cleaners’ wages by embarrassing large banks and
investment houses: “The degree of outsourcing has increased massively in
recent years, but what has become clear is that you can’t out-source your
reputation. It is just not acceptable to say it is nothing to do with us, it
is down to the contractor.”
Unite is expected to step up this campaign – and there is a lot riding on
Unite’s campaigns and its ability to reverse the slow but steady decline in
union membership. Now that the super-union has more resources it will boost
its recruitment work. “They will have the major responsibility in the
private sector of trying to reverse the membership levels. Unite, more than
anyone, will have to help turn around recruitment.” Like Mr Barber,
Gordon Brown is a member of Unite, because he was a member of the T&G.
And there will be a different mood at the TUC this year when he addresses
them as prime minister. Tony Blair has had a rather awkward time at the TUC
– almost certainly deliberately. Last year, before his last appearance, he
said that the occasion would probably be a relief to both him and the TUC.
On another occasion, he appeared with the Archbishop of Canterbury and, by
common consensus, one gave a fiery political speech and one gave a sermon.
Mr Barber thinks that Mr Blair’s legacy is mixed for the trade unions.
Undoubtedly Labour moved substantially in its first term, with the minimum
wage and trade union recognition, but after that unions did not get the
progress that they wanted and the relationship became increasingly strained.
“It has been a mix of positives with some real troublespots. Clearly, a lot
of people in the trade union world were deeply disaffected with the decision
to invade Iraq. For many people, that is regarded as the defining issue. In
public service reform, there has been a feeling that there has been a
failure to really engage.”
Nevertheless, Mr Barber believes that Mr Blair’s broad political legacy is
positive. “I think the judgment will probably be kinder as people reflect
than it is today because he has helped to change the terms of political
debate. The argument used to be that you had to make a choice between social
justice and economic efficiency and, more than anything else, he has moved
the world on from that.”
Curriculum vitae
Born April 3, 1951, Southport, Lancashire
Educated St Mary’s College grammar school in Crosby; City University,
London, BA Hons in social sciences
Career: 1974 researcher for the Ceramics, Glass and Mineral Products
Industry Training Board, based in Harrow
1975 policy officer with the TUC
1976 assistant secretary in the organisation and industrial relations
department
1979 head of the press and Information department
1987 head of the organisation and industrial relations department
1993 Deputy General Secretary
2003 General Secretary
Since 2003 nonexecutive director of the Court of the Bank of England
Member of the ACAS Council from 1995 until May 2004. Member of Sport England
from 1999 until 2002
Lives in Muswell Hill, North London, with his wife Mary, whom he met
when she worked in the TUC International Department, and his daughters, Amy
and Sarah
Interests Keen supporter of Everton Football Club and also occasionally
goes to Barnet’s home games. He is also a golfer
The leader questioned
If you could change one thing in the financial and commercial environment,
what would it be?
To convert the cliché “our people are our most important asset” from a
statement in the annual report to a living reality
Who is, or was, your mentor?
John Monks (former TUC general secretary and now General Secretary of the
European TUC). As well as being a great friend, he has always been a source
of solid advice and wisdom
Which is more important: what you know or who?
In my world there is nothing more important than relationships – that’s who
you know, but, more importantly, how you deal with them. Real progress is
only made and problems resolved when trust and respect are established
Does money motivate you?
Nowhere near as much as feeling you are a making a positive difference
What was the most important event in your working life?
Being appointed to a job in the TUC in 1975
What gadget/piece of technology can you not do without?
Mobile and BlackBerry
How do you relax?
On the golf course and with a deep breath after the final whistle at Goodison
Park signalling another Everton victory
What does leadership mean to you?
Credibility, authority and a capacity to inspire loyalty and support
Who do you most admire?
In the trade union world, Jack Jones (the former general secretary of the T&G)
has a formidable record of achievement as an organiser, inspirational leader
and pensioners’ champion
