Arise Sir Brendan—knighted for getting strikes called off Hearty congratulations are in order this week to Sir Brendan Barber, whose lifetime of “services to employment relations” has finally been recognised by the queen. What services are these, you may ask? Barber took a full time job at the TUC a year after leaving university. He gradually drifted up the promotions ladder without building a single union branch or winning a single election. He was there for 38 years without ever being elected by the membership. And looking back, it’s hard to find many examples of him having made the slightest difference either way. But in 2011, as 2.5 million workers struck over public sector pensions, Barber held secret talks with Tory ministers and pushed through the deal that got the strikes called off. That’s a “service to employment relations” that essentially ended Barber’s career—a sacrifice for which the bosses were immensely grateful. John Cridland of the CBI bosses’ organisation called him “the rational face of trade unionism” whose “measured leadership has been very much in evidence in dispute resolution, particularly in the public sector”. Need we say more? socialistworker.co.uk/art/33655/Arise+Sir+Brendan%E2%80%94knighted+for+getting+strikes+called+off
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 00:25:13 +0000
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