My friend Mike Dempsey passed away last week.
As many of you will know, Mike was a former NALGO and UNISON Assistant General Secretary – but more importantly he was a good man and a good friend.
I worked with Mike in both roles and he made a huge contribution to the development of NALGO and the creation of UNISON.
Everything we achieve today is built on the work of people like Mike – and for that we owe him a tremendous debt.
Yet trade unionism wasn’t Mike’s first career – he had previously worked as a lawyer for 18 years before gaining a Masters in Business Administration and then taking up a senior role with the union.
Mike led the union’s work on management of change and had a commitment to combining the best of management skills with a passion for trade unionism and fairness.
He was passionate about the role that good management can play in all organisations – and unions in particular.
Mike was latterly a visiting fellow at the Centre for Strategic Trade Union Management at Cranfield University’s School of Management and also an associate lecturer at the Open University Business School.
He championed UNISON’s partnership with the Open University and had a passionate commitment to ongoing learning and development – for himself and for trade unionists.
He will be very much missed and, on behalf of UNISON, I want send our deepest condolences to his wife Win and children Stephen and Wendy.
And I want to take this opportunity to thank Mike for everything he did for UNISON – and for me.