Contributors

The ToUChstone blog is primarily authored by TUC policy staff.

Alice Hood

I’m a TUC policy officer working on public sector issues. Before joining the TUC I was a policy officer and advisor at the Local Government Association and previously I worked for the European Parliamentary Labour Party and as a full-time elected student union officer at Sheffield University.

Anjum Klair

I work in the TUC’s Economics and Social Affairs Department, where I’m PA to the Head of the Department. I contribute to the research of the department and undertake analysis in areas including labour market issues and public spending.

Prior to joining the TUC I worked at the London School of Economics and the University of Westminster.

Ben Moxham

Brendan Barber

Iain Murray

Iain is TUC Senior Policy Officer responsible for policy on learning and skills, including training and lifelong learning; education policy including schools, further and higher education; regional government and devolution.

Janet Williamson

Janet is TUC Senior Policy Officer responsible for policy on institutional investment, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility.

She also contributes to TUC pensions policy and campaigning and is a trustee of the TUC Superannuation Society.

John Wood

I’m Campaigns and New Media Officer at the TUC, working on campaigns and advice online, as well as chipping in with issues around how new media (particularly social media) are impacting on industrial relations. I’m always tinkering with the system behind this blog (so if something’s broken it’s likely my fault) and on housekeeping duties to help out the other contributors.

I’ve been at the TUC since 2002, and before joining the team here, I worked on websites, eCommerce and online campaigning for Oxfam GB. In busman’s holiday style, I spend some of the spare time my kids leave me in blogging and online activism.

Kay Carberry

I am Assistant General Secretary of the TUC, and I’m responsible for the TUC’s internal management and overseeing our work on pensions and equality.

I have served on a number of government advisory bodies on equality, education, training and employment, and have been a member of the Women and Work Commission and a Commissioner of the Equal Opportunities Commission. I am currently a Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, as well as a Trustee of One Parent Families, the People’s History Museum and the Work Foundation.

Matt Dykes

I’m a Policy Officer at the TUC, covering issues around transport, public service reform and civil society. I’m responsible for the TUC’s work on public service reform and have led the work on the TUC’s response to the Open Public Services white paper, as well as authoring the TUC’s report Civil Society and Public Services: Collaboration not Competition. I’m particularly interested in the relationship between public services and civil society, social enterprises, mutuals and co-operatives.

I’ve been at the TUC for 8 years and was formerly policy officer for our London region and national youth officer. I have previously worked for the Mayor of London as well as several years in the civil service. I’ve been an active rep for both PCS and UNISON, and was also a founder member of Justice for Colombia.

Nicola Smith

I’m Head of the Economic and Social Affairs Department at the TUC.  I am also a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee. My posts may therefore range from the environment to the welfare state via macroeconomic policy but will inevitably provide more detail in some areas than others.

In my previous roles I specialised in labour market policy and coordinated the work of the Commission on Vulnerable Employment (CoVE).  Before joining the TUC I worked in research and policy roles for Barnardo’s, the Children and Young People’s Unit at the old DfES and the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion.

Nigel Stanley

I’m the TUC’s Head of Campaigns and Communications, and have been working at the TUC since 1994. I manage campaigning, media relations, parliamentary lobbying, publications and event organisation. As I work in communications and public affairs, my blogging is likely to range widely, but superficially.

In the past, I’ve freelanced in public affairs, research and journalism, including with the European Commission, Labour Party and a number of MPs. I did research, press and campaign management at the House of Commons in the 80′s and early 90′s, first for Robin Cook and then for Bryan Gould. Before that I was Organising Secretary of the Labour Co-ordinating Committee from its launch in 1978. I play ska/jazz bass guitar with the Skamonics and have part-ownership of a canal boat.

Owen Tudor

I’ve been the Head of the TUC’s European Union and International Relations Department since 2003 and have worked at the TUC since 1984. I’ve been a member of the Health and Safety Commission, the Civil Justice Council, the Social Security Advisory Committee and the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council and now I’m on the Wilton Park Advisory Council. I’m particularly interested in the trade union movements of Australia, Iran and Iraq, the Middle East and the USA, and I’m interested in migration, trade, and building trade union capacity. I’m the Secretary of TUC Aid, the TUC’s charitable union development arm and on the Robin Hood Tax campaign steering committee.

My wife Sarah works for the University of Westminster and my son Charles is in Year 10, working his way through his GCSEs. I’m a season ticket holder at Saracens, and a member of the Wine Society and the GMB.

Paul Sellers

Paul is TUC Policy Officer dealing with working time and the minimum wage. He focuses on combating the long hours culture, campaigning for better laws on working time, and promoting collective bargaining and best practice.

He also focuses on influencing the Low Pay Commission and the Government, and works to promote better awareness and enforcement of the minimum wage.

Philip Pearson

Climate change, energy and transport are the main parts of my brief as a Senior Policy Officer in the TUC’s Economic & Social Affairs Department. Working out an effective trade union response to climate change has been a huge challenge, very much a collective effort both inside the TUC and with our affiliated unions. It’s been difficult to draw any proper boundaries to this work, as it seems to affect so many of our activities and union members out there – in the energy, transport, manufacturing and services, skills and training, education and workplace organising, rights at work … much of what we do, in fact. Green jobs. I even think about them on my allotment.

I’m a member of the European Trade Union Confederation’s sustainable development group, building common ground with our affiliates across Europe. And I am currently chair the ITUC’s working group on climate change, our interface with the Kyoto treaty processes, magnifying my carbon footprint in so doing.

Tim Page

I’m a Senior Policy Officer at the TUC, responsible for economic and industrial policy. I also cover science policy, public procurement and high performance workplaces. I started my union at the Amalgamated Engineering Union, which is now part of Unite. I also did a spell at the House of Commons, working for the MPs Ann Clwyd and Ian McCartney. I was part of the team that put together the policy proposals which became the National Minimum Wage.

One of my major tasks at the TUC is editing our Budget Submission, which is sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer each year. It sets out our analysis of the state of the economy and recommends policies which, we believe, will improve the economic and social fabric of Britain. Being the TUC Budget Submission, it is especially concerned with these issues from the perspective of people at work. When I’m not working, I enjoy sports, especially football (watching) and skiing (taking part). I’m also learning to speak Italian.

Guest posts

The blog also periodically features topical guest posts from external policy experts in different areas. Guest posts are intended to widen debate and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TUC or its policy staff. Guest authors have included:

• Andrea Albertazzi: Spokesperson, Italian General Confederation of Labour
• Darinka Aleksic: Campaign Co-ordinator, Abortion Rights
• Calvin Allen: Researcher, Prospect
• David Arnold: Policy Officer, UNISON
• David Ashton: Emeritus Professor, Leicester University
• Andy Atkins: Executive Director, Friends of the Earth
• Chris Ball: Chief Executive, The Age and Employment Network
• Bob Baugh: Executive Director, AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council
• Chris Baugh: Assistant General Secretary, PCS
• Anamaria Bejar: Head of Latin America Team, International HIV/AIDS Alliance
• Kate Bell: Research and Development Co-ordinator, Community Links
• Peter Beresford: Director, Centre for Citizen Participation, Brunel University
• Eleanor Briggs: Asst. Director of Policy & Campaigns, National AIDS Trust
• Ian Brinkley: Knowledge Economy Programme Director, Work Foundation
• Stewart Brown: Member, FBU Executive Council
• Sharan Burrow: General Secretary, ITUC
• Laura Cohen: Chief Executive, British Ceramic Confederation
• Philip Connolly: Employment Campaigns Officer, RNIB
• Jim Cooper: Negotiations Officer, Prospect
• Richard Crisp: Research Fellow, CRESR Sheffield Hallam University
• Gary Crothers: Young Legal Aid Lawyers
• Matthew Crow: Political Campaigns Researcher, Zacchaeus 2000 Trust
• Bryn Davies: Director, Union Pension Services Ltd
• Anne Demelenne: General Secretary, General Federation of Belgian Labour
• Mark Dickinson: General Secretary, Nautilus International
• Macdara Doyle: Spokesperson, Irish Congress of Trade Unions
• Lawrence Egulu: Economist, International Labour Organisation
• Jonathan Ellis: Director of Policy and Development, Refugee Council
• John Evans: General Secretary, Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD
• Maria Exall: Chair, Cutting Edge Consortium
• Mike Farley: Chair of TUC Clean Coal Task Group
• Philip Flaxton: Chief Executive, IT Forum Foundation
• David Frost: Director General, British Chambers of Commerce
• Alison Garnham: Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group
• Dot Gibson: General Secretary, National Pensioners Convention
• Eugene Grant: Junior Associate, Demos
• Kate Green: Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group
• Leonie Greene: Head of External Affairs, Renewable Energy Association
• James Gregory: Senior Research Fellow, Fabian Society
• Stephen Hale: Director, Green Alliance
• David Hall: Director, Public Services International Research Unit
• Alastair Hatchett: Head of Pay and HR Services, Incomes Data Services
• Will Horwitz: Communications Co-ordinator, Community Links
• Yemisi Ilesanmi: Coordinator, Nigerian LGBT in Diaspora Against Same Sex Laws
• Sarah Jackson: Chief Executive, Working Families
• Howard Johns: Chair, Solar Trade Association
• Nicholas Jones: Author and labour journalist
• Tim Jones: Policy Officer, Jubilee Debt Campaign
• Andrew Kaye: Policy Analysis Officer, Royal National Institute of Blind People
• Con Keating: Head of Research, BrightonRock
• Alexandra Kemp: Coordinator, Women’s Income Network
• Dann Kenningham: National Co-ordination Team member, ATD Fourth World UK
• Charles King: Chair East Surrey Transport Committee
• Judith Kirton-Darling: Confederal Secretary, ETUC
• Dylan Kneale: Senior Researcher, International Longevity Centre
• Marie-Louise Knuppert: Confederal Secretary, LO Denmark
• Zoe Lanara: International Secretary, GSEE
• Stewart Lansley: Author and broadcaster
• Max Lawson: Head of Advocacy and Public Policy, Oxfam GB
• Professor Lord Richard Layard: CEP Wellbeing Programme Director, LSE
• Adam Lent: Director of Programmes, the RSA (Former head of TUC Economic & Social Affairs)
• Chris Leslie MP: Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury
• Professor Ruth Lister: Loughborough University
• Liz Lovell: Policy Adviser, The Children’s Society
• Samson Low: Policy Officer, UNISON
• Caroline Lucas: Leader, Green Party
• Tom MacInnes: Senior Analyst, New Policy Institute
• Ed Matthew: Programme Director, Transform UK
• Helen Maunga: Vice President, Cook Islands Workers Association
• Maeve McGoldrick: Campaigns Co-ordinator, Community Links
• Nigel Meager: Director, Institute for Employment Studies
• Ed Miliband MP: Leader of the Labour Party
• John Monks: Lord Monks, former General Secretary, ETUC (and TUC)
• Richard Murphy: Tax Justice Network founder
• Paul Nicolson: Chairman, Zacchaeus 2000 Trust
• Paul Noon: General Secretary, Prospect
• Will Norman: Principle Research Associate, the Young Foundation
• Paul O’Connor: National Officer, PCS
• Sophia Parker: Acting Director, Resolution Foundation
• Ben Pattison: Policy and Research Officer, BSHF
• Vicki Peacey: Research and Policy Officer, Gingerbread
• Kathy Peach: Head of Campaigns & Social Change, Scope
• Graham Petersen: Environment Coordinator, UCU
• John Philpott: Chief Economic Adviser, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• Kate Pickett: Co-founder, The Equality Trust
• James Plunkett: Secretary to Resolution Foundation Living Standards Commission
• Howard Reed: Director, Landman Economics
• Campbell Robb: Chief Executive, Shelter
• Allison Roche: Assitant National Officer, UNISON
• Sam Royston: Policy Officer, Family Action
• Sam Smethers: Chief Executive, Grandparents Plus
• Gill Stancer: SUNA Committee Member, Leonard Cheshire Disability
• Jonathan Stearn: Head of Sustainability and Disadvantage, Consumer Focus
• Anthea Sully: Director, Learning Disability Coalition
• Henry Tam: Visiting Professor, Birkbeck College
• Paul Talbot: Campaigns Officer, Community
• Zwelinzima Vavi: Secretary General, Congress of South African Trade Unions
• Heather Wakefield: National Secretary for local government, UNISON
• Graham Whitham: UK Poverty Policy Advisor, Save the Children
• Matthew Whittaker: Senior Economist, Resolution Foundation
• Sarah Williams: Regional Steward, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
• Steve Winyard: Head of Campaigns, RNIB