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Brendan Barber

Brendan Barber

I’m General Secretary of the TUC, the 9th person to hold the position since its introduction in 1922. I’ve been with the organisation since 1975, working in different roles in industrial relations and communications, as well as Deputy General Secretary until 2003, when I was elected General Secretary by the TUC’s General Council. I’m responsible for the overall operation of the TUC, and for leading the implementation of policies set by our annual Congress and the General Council.
I studied at City University in London, and took a sabbatical year as President of the City University Students Union, as well as working for a year with VSO in Ghana. I’m a Non-Executive Director of the Court of the Bank of England, and have done turns as a member of the ACAS Council and of Sport England. The latter is close to my heart as I’m a keen supporter of Everton Football Club, though you’ll also find me occasionally at home games of Vauxhall Conference side Barnet, and when I get the chance I enjoy a round or three of golf.

  • Economics

    This Queen’s speech will not deliver growth

    9th May 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Labour market

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber

    We needed a programme for growth in the Queen’s speech, instead we have an incoherent hotchpotch that will do little or nothing to deal with our fundamental economic problems or create jobs. The main obstacle remains the government’s mistaken policies of austerity that have sent the economy back into reverse.

    Even those proposals that go in the right direction have too often been watered down so we have a green investment bank that is not a real bank and executive pay curbs that lack teeth.

    What is worst is that ministers are wrapping up a real attack on rights at work as good for growth and employment. Those who opposed the minimum wage and rights for paid holidays are using the recession as a cover to introduce policies that they know have little support and that will be seen as nasty by most. There is no actual evidence that making work insecure does anything for the economy – easy fire will not lead to new hires.

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  • International

    Working with London 2012 to deliver better rights for workers

    23rd February 2012 — Filed under: International

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber

    Yesterday I briefed the TUC General Council about a landmark agreement, signed today, between the TUC and the organisers of this summer’s 2012 London Olympics and Paralympic Games. I hope that what the chair of LOCOG - Seb Coe - and I have agreed will deliver better working conditions not just for the people making this year’s Olympic souvenirs, but also for the workers in the supply chains for Rio 2016 and all future Olympiads.

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  • International

    EU Treaty: Europe’s social protections are part of the solution, not the problem

    10th February 2012 — Filed under: International

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber

    This is arguably the most critical time for Europe since the end of the war. Despite some improvement, the euro remains on life support. The sovereign debt crisis continues to cripple many of Europe’s economies. Across the continent, governments are imposing austerity measures that are killing growth, destroying living standards, and undermining the social provisions that have long been a defining part of the European project.

    With a new Treaty in prospect, Europe is headed down a very dangerous path. The treaty’s collective suicide pact of tight fiscal straightjackets, labour market deregulation, and diminished welfare states could put at risk the social model that is one of Europe’s crowning achievements.

    More than ever, we need an EU run in the interests of its citizens and workers, not the bankers and bond market vigilantes.

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  • Economics

    This is permanent austerity

    29th November 2011 — Filed under: Economics

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber

    None of the Chancellor’s post-election assumptions have turned out to be true. Growth has stalled, the Eurozone has crashed, the structural deficit bigger than thought and unemployment continues to rise as the private sector fails to take up the public sector slack.

    The Chancellor’s stubborn determination to stick to his plan despite the evidence that it is not working and won’t work in the future means that we are locked into permanent austerity.

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  • Economics

    Time for Plan B

    26th October 2011 — Filed under: Economics

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber

    I’m giving a lecture at Liverpool University this evening, this is a slightly edited version of what I’m saying:

    Tonight, I simply say to the Chancellor: Plan A isn’t working. We can’t go on like this. We need an alternative. And we need it now.

    Let me set out the TUC’s vision for an alternative, a five-point plan to help get our economy on track and help get Britain back to work.

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  • Politics

    The government is wrong on the riots

    12th September 2011 — Filed under: Politics, Society & Welfare

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber
    Update: you can read a TUC analysis of the policy background to the riots here

    Last month, as our cities burned amidst the worst rioting in decades, social divisions in modern Britain were laid bare. The violence and the criminality that we saw shocked us all, and none of us would seek to justify or condone it in any way.

    And the victims were overwhelmingly frightened ordinary people in working class communities – with the police and emergency service workers called on to put their safety on the line to restore order.

    The Prime Minister chose to describe these events as ‘criminality pure and simple’. But it isn’t so simple and what happened in August actually revealed deep fractures within our society.

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  • Economics

    What Vickers should have been asked

    11th September 2011 — Filed under: Economics

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber

    The Vickers team have been asked how to make the banks safe, but the real question is how we make them useful.

    Tougher capital requirements and ring-fencing will be bitterly opposed by the banks, who will now lobby hard to water them down. They should be resisted.

    But while we need to avoid another finance-driven crash, safer banking on its own will not help drive the investment and create the jobs we need. Indeed, unless we take other action tougher capital controls could even limit credit at a time when businesses complain they cannot get affordable loans.

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  • Economics

    Congress 2011: Campaigning for the alternative

    9th September 2011 — Filed under: Economics

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber

    Next week sees the TUC’s 143rd annual Congress in London, and a lot has happened since the union movement met in Manchester last year.

    A year ago we were being told that everything was set for recovery. Yet here we are 12 months later facing a real prospect of a double-dip recession.  Trying to eliminate the deficit in just four years can now be seen as nothing more than a national programme of self-harm.

    It has killed both consumer and business confidence. With the cuts already putting the brake on government investment, the net result is that almost no-one is investing. Yet without growth there is no prospect of closing the deficit gap in the short, medium or long term.

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  • Pensions & Investment

    Danny Alexander on public sector pensions: An inflammatory intervention

    17th June 2011 — Filed under: Pensions & Investment

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber

    Unions representing many public sector workers are currently engaged in complex negotiations with the government over changes to public sector pensions. Now is a pretty critical time in the talks, and Danny Alexander’s comments in the Telegraph and on the Today Programme this morning are extremely unhelpful.

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  • Economics

    Britain’s livelihood crisis: A permanent way of life?

    6th June 2011 — Filed under: Economics

    Brendan Barber Brendan Barber

    It’s now over a year since the end of Britain’s most recent recession, but for many households the pain continues. In fact the financial hardship that some families currently face is greater than in the depths of the downturn. The Government’s own forecasts show that wages are going to trail behind inflation for several years to come, while household debt will continue to rise.

    For those on middle and low incomes who were experiencing a wage squeeze before the recession even started, a return to business as usual is unlikely to bring any significant rewards. On the contrary, as stagnating wages are accompanied by tax rises and cuts in the benefits and tax credits available to working families life is set to become even more of a struggle.

    The wages of middle income Britain have grown by an average of just 56% since 1978, despite GDP increasing by 108% over the same period. For workers in some skilled trades incomes actually fell in real terms between 1978 and 2008.

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