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NewUnionism» is a group of people who want to help build and energize the union movement. We are a network, rather than an organisation*, and have no links with any other group or organisation. Membership is open to anybody who supports the principles set out here. Founding members (pictured below) are those who have agreed to help establish the network. They're a cohort of experienced and creative individuals who help with advice, articles, ideas and feedback. Network members (listed below) support the same principles but are not necessarily in a position to help establish the network, or are just too busy to make any further commitments. Please note that we make no hierarchical distinction of any kind between the two.

Roy Adamsarrows Roy Adams
Country: Canada
Work: Researcher, writer, workers' rights activist
After an academic career as professor of industrial relations with specialities in international and comparative IR and international labour rights, Roy has work extensively on labour rights and labour issues. He was a founding member of the Society for the Promotion of Human Rights in Employment and continues to serve as SPHRE's Chair. He is also a member of the International Labour Rights Commission, and is a frequent contributor to and editorial board member of International Union Rights. He works closely with Canadian and American unions to promote recognition of labour rights as human rights and particularly the human rights nature of collective bargaining. His most recent book is "Labour Left Out: Canada's Failure to Protect and Promote Collective Bargaining as a Human Right".


Kevin Aitkenarrows Kevin Aitken
Country: New Zealand
Work: Union official
Union: AUS
Kevin has worked as a union organiser for the last ten years, and was a delegate for five before that. His work has included time with unions in Australia's building, construction and mining industries, followed by national training in the Australian variant of the organising model. He worked for a while with the Engineers Union in New Zealand, before moving to the Association of University Staff, where he is currently doing innovative organizing work around the concept of social capital, and helping develop a "relational organizing" model, prior to moving to the USA to work with the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW).


Derek Blackadderarrows Derek Blackadder
Country: Canada
Work: Union official
Union: CUPE
Derek has worked with the Canadian Union of Public Employees and one of its predecessors since 1989.  Before that he was active in a number of unions for about 10 years. He has worked as an organizer (recruiting new members), as an executive assistant, and for most of his time with CUPE as a servicing representative.  He also works towards greater international solidarity between workers and unions through his work in a labour-friendly NGO and is a senior correspondent with LabourStart
.


Paul Cochranearrows Paul Cochrane
Country: New Zealand
Work: Union/organisation development
Union: PSA
Paul began work as a public servant in 1983 and soon became the union delegate. This lead to becoming a union officer for the New Zealand Public Services Association (PSA). He worked with the union for the next twenty years, the last five of which were spent as National Secretary. In the late 1990s, while Paul headed PSA's organisational development, the PSA developed a workplace-centred partnership strategy. Since then membership has continued to grow, with the increase now totalling almost 50%. In 2005 he left to do independent work in organisational development, focusing on participative approaches to strategy-building.


Clementine Dehwearrows Clementine Dehwe
Country: Zimbabwe
Work: HIV/Aids Project Coordinator
Union: ITUC
Clementine started working for the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union in Zimbabwe in 1985, first as an organiser, and subsequently as national women's coordinator. She then moved to Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions as health and safety training officer, and HIV/Aids project coordinator. She is currently based in South Africa, where she works for the Global Unions network as HIV/Aids project coordinator. more››


Richard Freemanarrows Richard B Freeman
Country: United States
Work: Harvard Professor of Economics, co-Chair of Harvard Trade Union programme, and
more»
Of the 25 books Richard has written or edited, unionists are probably most familiar with the seminal "What Workers Want", co-written with Joel Rogers and republished in 2006. This book grew out of the most thorough study of US workers' aspirations in thirty years, and "delivers a message about workplace democracy that union leaders would do well to build into their organizing strategies" (Dissent magazine). He is one of the USA's foremost thinkers on the future of labour and unionism, and has written hundreds of articles and reports on this and related subject (see for instance: "A Proposal to American Labour" and: "Open Source Unionism").   more»


Peter Hall-Jonesarrows Peter Hall-Jones
Country: France
Work: Union communications
Union: Force Ouvrière
Peter has worked in the union movement for 16 years, primarily in communications and information roles. Most of this work has been with public sector unions, at both national and international level. He currently lives near Geneva, where he is helping develop the new.unionism›› website and working with the other founding members on how to develop the network.   more››


Paul Hardyarrows Paul Hardy
Country: Ireland
Work: Union organiser
Union: SIPTU
Paul has been working in SIPTU's Organising Department since 2005. He is particularly interested in the efforts of unions, including his own, to renew themselves as political and industrial structures based on membership commitment and activism. Paul is a member of the Labour Party and a correspondent for LabourStart. He was formerly an activist and member of the National Union of Journalists national executive.


Charles Heckscherarrows Charles Heckscher
Country: United States
Work: Industrial relations analyst
Prof. Charles Heckscher is Director for the Center for Workplace Transformation, part of the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University. He has written a large number of books and papers on themes such as new unionism, union reform, participatory unionism, developing workplace partnership, the collaborative enterprise, and network theory. Heckscher is far more than an academic, though. He has been directly involved in a large number of industrial transformations, and these have given his work a practical value which unions have come to value highly. A selection of his writings is available here.


Philip Hunterarrows Philip Hunter
Country: Switzerland
Independent researcher and consultant
Philip has worked as a consultant to the ILO in Geneva for the past five years. His work has focused on multinationals and the social responsibilities of business. He has worked extensively on research, policy analysis and awareness raising for unions at the global level, concentrating on labour rights and the global economy. Philip's current research interests include the political and international solidarity dimensions of trade union renewal.


Laura Kansanenarrows Laura Kansanen
Country: Finland
Work: Visual artist
Laura is an artist who has been involved in progressive groups and causes for years. She is an artistic advisor to the project, and helps review the website and publications as she awaits the second coming of Pippi Longstocking; all the rest is merely filler.  
more››


John Kirkhamarrows John Kirkham
Country: United Kingdom
Work: Coach, facilitator, negotiator
John works with The Work Foundation (formerly The Industrial Society), a UK-based organisation of which the TUC and UNISON are partners, dedicated to improving the quality of working lives. He works with in the public, private and voluntary sectors as a coach, facilitator and negotiator. He firmly believes that all people have a valuable contribution to make to the world of work, and that it is the challenge of management to harness this collective experience for the benefit of all stakeholders in an organisation.


Andrew Littlearrows Andrew Little
Country: New Zealand
Work: National Secretary
Union: EPMU
Andrew has been National Secretary of New Zealand's largest private sector union, the Amalgamated Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, since 2000. EPMU has about 50,000 members in 10 industries, from cleaners to clerical workers to the highest-skilled tradespeople. The union's philosophy is to help workers help themselves. Andrew is a qualified lawyer, and a former national student president. He sits on many boards and organisations. He has led the union through a process of consolidation and modernisation, and has helped to develop a strategic approach in industrial relations.


Greg McLeanarrows Greg McLean
Country: Australia
Work: Union official
Union: ASU
Greg is Assistant National Secretary of the Australian Services Union, and is responsibile for public services, state and local government, water/energy utilities and public transport. He has extensive experience in public sector reform and has campaigned widely against privatisation, both nationally and internationally. He holds post-graduate qualifications in Industrial Relations and was a rank and file member before becoming involved in union work.


Tony Mullenarrows Tony Mullen
Country: Australia
Union: AEU
Tony has worked for a state branch of the Australian Education Union since 1990: the first fifteen years as an organiser, and now as an educator. He describes his work as a struggle to move the organisation from a servicing to an organising culture, and from rhetoric to reality. He facilitates industrial education for members in schools and vocational education colleges, focussing on rights, representation and organizing, as well as specific modules such as occupational safety and health. He's part of the union's struggle to make teaching a more rewarding career, after years of under-resourcing by successive governments.


Max Ogdenarrows Max Ogden
Country: Australia
Work: Union consultant
Union: AMWU
Max is a fitter and turner who spent 30 years as a union official; for most of that time grappling with issues around workplace and union democracy. He retired in 2004, having established and worked for the Foundation for Sustainable Economic Development at Melbourne University. He is still involved with the Foundation’s research project 'Work & Social Cohesion Under Globalisation', and is working with the ACTU and some New Zealand unions on new strategies involving workplace democracy and high performance work systems.


Kris Rondeauarrows Kris Rondeau
Country: United States
Work: Union organizer
Union: HUCTW
The story of the HUCTW, and Kris's "relational organizing" approach, is an inspiring one. The union was developed from the ground up by Harvard employees themselves (Kris was a lab assistant), rather than by a larger outside organization. Leadership comes from members, who also negotiate contracts and work with management to address issues of policy and improve the working environment. Kris and her fellow activists have broken new ground with tactics based on establishing relationships and common values, rather than focusing solely on “issues”. This model has also helped Kris and her team facilitate victories at the Universities of Minnesota and Illinois, and UMASS Medical Center and School, as well as seeding unions in the city of Cambridge and elsewhere.


John Watsonarrows John Watson
Country: France
Work: Jack of all trades
John is a union communications worker, builder, mechanic, caregiver, plumber, counsellor, website developer, electrician, desktop publisher, architecture buff and scuba diver. He is currently working for the World Health Organisation and has also been doing freelance work for the international union/NGO
GAPS campaign and the global unions' HIV-Aids project.


Kirsten Windelovarrows Kirsten Windelov
Country: United Kingdom
Work: Union official
Union: Prospect
Kirsten is a trade union official, currently working with Prospect in the UK. Prior to this she was a high school rep, a student rep, a teacher's rep, a parliamentary services staff rep, and a public services union rep. Along the way she obtained a law degree, which has been a help at times, and a fine sense of humour. In fact this network probably began with a joke she made.


 

 

Natasha Andrewsarrows Natasha Andrews
Country: United Kingdom
Work: Industrial relations, employment & union research
Natasha has played a variety of roles within Unison, including shop steward, branch chair, young members rep, branch communications officer, and vice chair of the National Young Members Forum, as well as activist roles around the issues of age and minimum wages. She has also been a union negotiator and member of NATFHE and TGWU. She is currently a researcher and seminar leader in industrial relations, people and organisations at the University of Kent. As a seminar leader she is responsible for teaching the various aspects of industrial relations including labour law and current IR theories, and is working on a project concerning women and management across professions in Kent, studying the effects of training, networks and mentoring on the ‘glass ceiling’.


Christine Armitagearrows Christine Armitage
Country: United Kingdom
Work: Union partnership consultant
Christine is a Director of the Partnership Institute, originally set up by and still linked to the UK national union body, the TUC. The Institute works to build worker participation and influence at enterprise level, and has done extremely The Institute works to build worker participation and influence at enterprise level, and has done pioneering worked with major organisations in the UK and internationally including HBOS, Dfid, the Cabinet Office, the Home Office and Carlsberg.  The case studies section of our Online Library contains examples of this work.


Dean Chandler-Millsarrows Dean Chandler-Mills
Country: New Zealand
Work: Union organiser
Union: PSA
After 45 years in the union movement Dean is still smiling. He began as a clerical union delegate in Tubemakers of Australia, and went on to organise workers in local government, theatre, electrical work, and, for the last sixteen years, public services in New Zealand.


Ken Coeyarrows Ken Coey
Country: United Kingdom
Work: Team coach and meeting facilitator
Ken
has over 25 years experience in coaching individuals and teams to achieve improved cooperation and performance. He has worked in the UK, New Zealand and Sweden. Currently based in the UK, he and his colleagues in VillmanCoey (Sweden) have worked with the union movement (and others) on developing teamwork and shared goals at both national and international level.


Conor Craddenarrows Conor Cradden
Country: France
Work: Labour researcher
Dr Conor Cradden is an independent researcher working in labour movement theory, industrial relations, the sociology of work and business ethics. He was formerly head of research at the AUT and branch secretary of TGWU. He now works mainly with global union federations and labour-oriented NGOs, and has recently published a book looking at the relationship between corporate behaviour and workplace democracy. His PhD was awarded by the European University Institute in Italy. more››


Mark Gregoryarrows Mark Gregory
Country: Australia
Work: Web developer
Union: CPSU
Mark is a unionist and folklorist. He has been a union activist for about forty years, both paid and unpaid, and during this time has been an avid collector of union songs: "the hidden voice of those determined not to be written out of history by corporate power". In 1997 he launched what is quite possibly the best website of its kind: www.unionsong.com. In one of his many articles on union and workers' music, he quotes Woody Guthrie: 'Maybe you got a new song. You have, if you said what you really had to say about how the old world looks to you, or how it ought to be fixed'.   more››


Russell Greigarrows Russell Greig
Country: United Kingdom
Work:
Union rep and negotiator
Union: Unite
Russell has been a union rep and national lead negotiator, barman, manager in a bank, trainee legal exec, chair of a building society trade group, Buddhist, and is currently studying trade unionism at Northern College, Barnsley.
He is also involved in the development of various organising tools and resources for Unite's membership in the finance sector.


Rolv Hanssenarrows Rolv Hanssen
Country: Norway
Work: Union communications
Rolv was a bus driver in Norway for 18 years - and a union rep for most of that time. He then worked as a union officer for 11 years. During this time he took part in developing the model municipality experience, which involves harnessing workers' skills and knowledge to improve the quality of public services. He was a leader of the local federation LO in Trondheim, and helped establish broad alliances among unions on a proactive (ie rather than reactive) basis. He has written books and pamplets in Norwegian about privatisation, tendering, private public parnterships and how unions can take the initiative in restructuring.


Adelia Hallettarrows Adelia Hallett
Country: New Zealand
Work: Communications consultant
Union: EPMU
Adelia joined the union movement as a working journalist in the 1980s, and went on to work for New Zealand's largest private sector union the EPMU, setting up their communications department and a union newswire service as part of the process. She has a strong feel for strategic innovation, and now does freelance consultancy for several unions and NGOs. Last year she won a national public relations award for her work on a wages campaign that led to real wages growth in New Zealand for the first time in a decade.


Leonard Hikaumbaarrows Leonard Hikaumba
Country:
Zambia
Work: Para-veterinarian
Union: CSAWUZ
Leonard is a trade unionist currently serving as President of Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, as well as for the Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia. He is employed in the Ministry of Agriculture as a senior livestock officer, and is also involved in campaigning against HIV/Aids.


George Koletsisarrows George Koletsis
Country:
Australia
Work: Union education officer
Union: AMWU
Starting out as a metal-worker, George has been a political activist, union organiser and education worker for most of his adult life. He has worked mainly in Australia, Romania, and around Eastern Europe, with stints as a project manager and contract consultant for the ILO and other international organisations. He is a committed socialist and has an outspoken sense of humour and a natural egalitarianism which allows him to cut through bureaucracy like a chainsaw (on methedrine) through butter.


Linda Kellyarrows Linda Kelly
Country:
United Kingdom
Work: Union partnership consultant
Along with Christine Armitage (above), Linda is Director of the UK Partnership Institute, initially set up by the TUC. Her abilities have been moulded by work as a teacher, a City broker, a policy maker and Personnel and Training Manager of the Labour Party. Linda is a pragmatist and consensus-builder, motivator and problem-solver. She has membership of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a BEd (Hons) from Leeds and recognition as a Myers Briggs assessor. She is a director of the Training Standards Council, a Management Board Member of the European TUC College, and a Council Member of Employment NTO, in addition to a number of other senior posts. They have produced a toolkit for the Cabinet Office on how to deliver public service reform through work force engagement, and a toolkit for the Police Force in partnership with the Home Office.


Thobile Masoarrows Thobile Maso
Country: South Africa
Work: Union education
Union: SAMWU
Thobile is a trade unionist and has been since before the end of the apartheid era, helping to establish the Post and Telecommunication Workers Association in 1986. Amandla nga wethu yebasebenzi, basebenzi masimanyane. He currently co-ordinates education in the South African Municipal Workers' Union. He is also a well-known workers' poet, and more lately has been setting some of his poems to music.


Polly Millerarrows Polly Miller
Country: New Zealand
Work: Public servant
Union: PSA
Polly worked for the NZ Public Services Association for two years, having been a delegate for two before this, and then moved to the UK where she worked for three years with UK unions NUT and UNISON, followed by a stint with the UK Partnership Institute.


Paul Nowakarrows Paul Nowak
Country: United Kingdom
Work: TUC union official
Paul was appointed the UK Trades Union Congress (TUC) New Unionism Project Director in May 2002. Following this he became the TUC's National Organiser. Before this he had been TUC regional secretary in the North East and Cumbria. Paul currently leads on the TUC’s work to support union efforts on organising and recruitment, which includes the development and delivery of the TUC Organising Academy, and co-ordinates the TUC’s ‘Leading Change’ training and development programme for senior union officers, and supports the TUC’s work on inter-union relations.


Jodie Schluterarrows Jodie Schluter
Country: Australia
Work: Union youth project officer
Union: ASU
Jodie helps organize young workers for the peak union body in South Australia.She also manages the U-Who? Young People and Unions project. Her key roles are education, advocacy, networking, campaigning, building partnerships and resource development. Prior to this she was as an organiser with the Australian Services Union, and she also worked for a number of years as a youth worker, a community educator and in the youth development field. An experienced advocate, Jodie has also worked for a few years with multicultural communities.


Pirzada Imtiaz Syedarrows Pirzada Imtiaz Syed
Country:
Pakistan
Work: Union leader
Union: APFUTU
Pirzada Imtiaz Syed is Secretary General of Pakistan's national union federation, the All Pakistan Federation of United Trade Unions (APFUTU). He is also National Secretary of the Pakistan Brick Kiln Labour Union, and has worked for the Electricity Workers and Bone Crushing Industries Workers for 35 years, again including a role as National Secretary. Pirzada combines these executive responsibilities with a strong knowledge of workers' concerns from regular site visits and participation in delegates' meetings and conferences. In September 2005 he was elected to the position of Secretary General of the national alliance “Labour Unity”.


Zutalorsarrows Zutalors
Country: Registered in Liberia
Work: Agent provocateur
Union: In-house
Zutalors (also known as Ava Tarr and Diogenes) joined New Unionism before our security procedures and initiation rituals were tightened up. As the only non-existent member of the network, he/she/it is currently setting up a caucus to undermine our lack of structure. Please be very very wary of anything this member has to say - Zutalors is clearly playing a devil's advocacy game, aimed at provoking debate. You can contact the secret faction for the non-existent at: zutalors@newunionism.net


 

 

   

Network members

   
First name Surname Country Occupation or position Union*
(member or staff)
spacer
Megan Adam Canada Communications worker  
Rosalinda Aguirre United States Union organizer AFT
Zulfaqir Ali Pakistan Union information secretary PBKLU
Don Anderson New Zealand Consultant  
Ron Angel New Zealand Union organiser EPMU & SFWU
Margaret Atkinson Australia Union documentalist AMWU
James Atleson United States Professor of international & US labor law AFSCME
Valentina Arreola United States Registered nurse UNAC/UHCP
Jane Austen Australia Union campaigner LHMU
Zia Ullah Azam Pakistan Union general secretary GFTU
Be Abdul Babaluni New Zealand Writer  
Ian Babcock Canada University administrator CUPE
Hardeep Badhesha Australia Train guard RTBU
Stephen Baker Australia Union organiser AWU
Matt Ball United Kingdom Director of Unions21 Community
Morna Ballantyne Canada Director of union education CUPE
Scott Batchelor Australia Union official AMWU
Markian Beley Canada Accountant  
Shawn Bishop Canada Housekeeper CAW
Pat Bolster New Zealand National union official SFWU
Marc Bousquet United States Professor and union national councillor AAUP
Linda Briskin Canada Professor YUFA
Luc Brisebois Canada Local president, social worker CUPE
Karen Brown Australia Researcher NTEU
Pamela Brown Canada Union office manager CUPE
Gunnar Brulin Sweden Union journalist LIVS
Andrea Buchanan Australia Union organiser QTU
Craig Bulley Australia Radion producer CFMEU
Jamie Butterworth Australia IT specialist NTEU
Lian Campbell Eagles Australia Education administration QTU
Tom Canel United States Union organizer AFSCME
Rafael Cardino Philippines Teller TOEWU
Jeanne Carpenter United States Organizer CWU
Linda Carruthers Australia Union research and education RBTU
Trish Cooper Australia Union official AMWU
Christopher Cormier Canada Child and youth worker OPSEU
Peggy Costello United States Pipefitter UA
Paul Cross United Kingdom Trade union organiser Community
Rob Crowther United Kingdom Trade union organiser Unison & GMB
Josh Cullinan Australia Union organiser ASU
Steve Davies United Kingdom Senior research fellow UCU
André-Roger Dellevi Canada Airline worker CAWU
Brian Devlin Australia Union educator AMWU
Christine Diaz United States Flight attendant IAMAW
Ramakhera
Dikotsi South Africa Educator, union negotiator and shop steward NAPTOSA
Jenny Doe United States NGO activist younionize
Adrian Dolby United Kingdom Student services assistant Unison
Blaine Donais Canada Union staff/mediator/consultant SEP
Stephen Dondley United States Labor website developer OPEIU
Brian Dungan United States Technical services CWA
Jerzy Dymny Canada Political musician IWW
Elliot V. Elliot Australia Seaman MUA
Graham Elliott New Zealand Ticket collector RMTU and Unite
Lincoln Ellis Canada Union organizer  
Luis Espinosa-Organista USA / Mexico Union organizer UFCW
Alex Falconer Australia Union organiser HSU
Natalie Falvey Australia Trade union official USU
Jan Farr New Zealand Writer  
Dave Feikart New Zealand Mine safety advisor EPMU
Eric Fink United States Law Professor younionize
Karsten Fogde Denmark Trade union advisor 3F
Paul Ford United States Medical professional SEIU
Robyn Fortescue Australia Trade union official AMWU
Barry Foster New Zealand University lecturer (IR) AUS
David Fowler United Kingdom Trade union worker  
Mauricio Garay Canada Regional union organizer LIUNA
Paul Garver United States Global union official (retired) IUF
Chloe Gaul Australia Union educator ASU
Helen Gibbons Australia Trade union organiser LHMU
Robin Gillespie United States Union ergonomist Freelancers
Nicholas Glover United States Support technician younionize
Eduardo Gonzalez Australia Union organiser AMWU
Lester Muata Green United States Emergency medical services UEPF
Russell Greig United Kingdom Full time union rep Unite
Jonathan Grossman United States Union representative SEIU
Thomasin Guenard United States Union organizer HUCTWU, AFSCME
Howard Guille Australia Retired union secretary NTEU
Michael Hardt United States Teacher  
Bruce Hearn Mackinnon Australia University lecturer NTEU
Kathy Luz Herrera United States Union electrician / county legislator IBEW
Paul Hieber United States Respiratory therapist younionize
Marvin Holland United States Cleaner TWU
Leanne Holmes Australia Bus driver RTBU
Duncan Hume United Kingdom Prison officer NAPO
Sanford Jacoby United States Teacher AAUP
Carlos Jimenez United States Labor NGO national director CWA
Aidan Jolly United Kingdom Musician Musicians Union
Amber Jones New Zealand Student Student union
Jolyon Jones United Kingdom S