With the help of a camel and a pig, Paul Kenny, the general secretary of the
GMB general union, has held to account some of the most powerful figures in
the business world.
Recently, Mr Kenny and the union have trained their sights on the global
private equity industry in what has been widely viewed as a high-profile and
very effective campaign.
What started as the union’s frustration at dealing with the AA after the
motoring group’s takeover by private equity ended in a Treasury review of
the industry, a select committee inquiry and union hopes of a tax and
accountability crackdown.
En route came a camel that was marched to a church where a private equity boss
was worshipping. The camel was there to illustrate the biblical lesson of it
being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of God.
When Mr Kenny was the union’s London regional secretary in the mid-Nineties he
took Cedric the pig (actually a sow) to British Gas’s annual meeting to
protest against executive pay in the utilities. The utilities had been
privatised shortly before and controversy raged over executives who one day
had been paid public sector salaries and the next had received huge
increases for doing the same job. British Gas buckled under the pressure of
the protests and Cedric Brown, the chief executive and the pig’s namesake,
ended up paying with his job.
The private equity campaign has sent powerful shockwaves through the business
world. Suddenly, business has realised what good campaigning can do. The
public response of the private equity industry, despite its wealth, has been
weak and uncoordinated.
And with other strong corporate campaigning, such as the T&G’s fight for
better pay for City cleaners, which held responsible the rich investment
banks despite their protestations that pay and conditions were being
determined by contract companies, employers are beginning to wonder whether
this is a resurgent union trend. The strike may not be dead – certainly, it
is alive and well in the public sector – but communication and campaigning
is becoming a powerful weapon.
“It is a different approach,” Mr Kenny says. “For far too long people seemed
to have just one answer and, if we learnt anything from the Eighties and
Nineties, it was that we have to have more than one answer. It has been far
too easy for people to rubbish trade unions on the grounds that all we ever
do is go on strike. With private equity and other campaigns, we made a
conscious decision to try to make unions more effective, to get unions’
voices heard and to make politicians sit up.”
It is not the same game as it used to be in many ways for the GMB and for
other unions. The big, highly unionised workplaces have taken the brunt of
manufacturing job losses. The large growth of contract and temporary working
and the arrival of migrant labour from Eastern Europe have changed the
economy and the workplace dramatically.
The GMB used to be the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade
Union. For a long time it was a union with many members in engineering. Now
the “general” part of its original name is its best description. It has
members in virtually every walk of life, including the world’s oldest
profession, after a campaign to recruit sex workers. Just as the union has
moved into new areas, embracing a range of people, so, too, has it witnessed
recently – with some dismay – the reaching out of Gordon Brown’s new
administration to create “a government of all the talents”.
Mr Kenny is annoyed because all the talents so far include Conservatives,
Liberal Democrats and former business leaders but no one from the unions. Mr
Kenny believes that the ennoblement of Digby Jones, the outspoken former
director-general of the CBI, will end in tears for the Government. Lord
Jones of Birmingham was a persistent irritant to the unions, accusing them
of being dinosaurs from the Seventies. “I suppose every court needs a
jester,” Mr Kenny says. “A government of all the talents with Digby Jones -
well, that is stretching the tent very wide. If Digby Jones is an answer to
a question, I can’t imagine what the question is. Maybe there is a balancing
acting coming down the road.”
Mr Kenny does not have a philosophical objection to the involvement of other
parties in Mr Brown’s Government, believing it to be clever politics of
destabilising the Opposition. Yet he also believes that Labour has no choice
to reach out when it is a government that controls only England. “Three
countries – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – are not controlled by the
Government,” he says. “Engagement with other parties is a way of life now.”
As the leader of Britain’s third-biggest union, Mr Kenny is not, however,
interested in engagement with other unions in terms of a merger. Under its
previous general secretary, the GMB had been in talks about a three-way
merger with Amicus and the T&G, which have gone on to form Unite, the
largest union. Mr Kenny says that the GMB is in surplus and is growing its
550,000 membership, albeit slowly. It is thought that the regional
secretaries of the GMB would have been happy with a merger with the T&G,
which was more Left-leaning, but not with Amicus.
Today will be a key test of Mr Brown’s relationship with the unions now that
he is Prime Minister. As he delivers his first speech to the TUC in his new
capacity, he is under pressure on public sector pay, changes to Labour’s
constitution, which threaten to limit the unions’ influence, the growing gap
between rich and poor, and employment law, to name but a few issues. But it
is clearly early days and Mr Kenny says that Mr Brown is making the right
noises in private.
He will have to do more than that, though, if he is to keep GMB members onside
and fend off moves in the union to disaffiliate from the party. Mr Kenny
believes that next year will be crunch time for the union to decide whether
it keeps its affiliation or move to a different way of supporting the party.
Mr Kenny says that there is real anger among public sector workers over the
Government’s attempts to cap their pay increases at 2 per cent.
“What sort of message does that send to people in the public sector?” he says.
“They can’t be afforded more than 2 per cent while some are walking away
with tens of millions of pounds. Someone earning just above the minimum wage
will say: ‘I’m not the cause of inflation.’ ”
Curriculum vitae
Born: October 31, 1949, in West London, to Irish parents
Career:
1966: starts work at 15 at Fuller’s brewery in Chiswick and then as an
apprentice gas fitter. Moves to become a park-keeper for Hammersmith &
Fulham council. Becomes active in the GMB
1979: joins the GMB as a full-time official in 1979
1991: becomes London regional secretary in 1991
2003: runs as candidate for general secretary, but is beaten by Kevin
Curran
2005: Mr Curran is ousted by the union after alleged election
vote-rigging. Paul Kenny becomes acting general secretary
2006: elected general secretary unopposed
Family: married, with two sons and three grandchildren
The leader questioned
If you could change one thing in the financial and commercial environment,
what would it be?
A fair taxation environment, whereby everyone makes a fair and reasonable
contribution to our society
What does leadership mean?
Leadership is the ability to develop a strategic vision, put together the
right team and inspire people to have the confidence and ability to support
and deliver that vision and themselves
Which person do you most admire?
The person who can lead Fulham to FA Cup victory!
Who is or was your mentor?
No one person, but many profound influences, from Nelson Mandela to my Mum
Which is more important, what you know or who you know?
Actually, it’s important that the people you know understand what you know
Does money motivate you?
If it did, I’d be working in private equity. I’m more motivated by standing up
and supporting people who need help sticking up for their rights. It makes
for an easier sleep at night
What is the most important event, good or bad, to happen in your working
life?
The first time I succeeded in helping someone keep their job, I realised I
could actually do something to make a difference
What gadget must you have?
I’m not sure if it’s been invented, but it would be a special hearing aid,
which I would give to politicians so they could understand why they need to
bring back public procurement contracts to disabled British workers
How do you relax?
Sitting on the beach in Cornwall with a picnic enjoying my family
