Good luck Glyn-The End of an Era

Friday was the end of an era in Haringey UNISON (and NALGO for you oldies!) as we bid a fond farewell to Glyn Rowlands who left his job in Haringey and thus sadly his role in our Branch. Over the years Glyn has been a Steward, a health and safety Rep, a Convener for Education, and Assistant branch Secretary and the Employeeside Secretary(and we all know what a thankless task coordinating joint trade unions can sometimes be!). Aside from this he put in countless and unthanked hours as a Rep for individuals and in campaigning on wider Trade Union issues such as anti privatisation. In all the year's I have been in the Union movement in harigney he has been a constant source of support and a very good listener!

Glyn is one of the quiet people of the Trade Union movement not a shouter or a person to big up his contribution to UNISON over the years so I guess it is left to the likes of me to do it for him. Put simply Glyn is the kind of person every Branch needs, the kind who digests and understands the endless Council reports, writes copious amounts of good quality bulletins on the issues and generally plans and organises campaigns to a tee. I was struck by how much work he has down when he left me his departing gift of the 30 huge boxes of paperwork which were delivered by a removal company! So a little light reading for the next few months!

But in seriousness he was a great asset and it will be very hard to replace someone with such an encyclopedic knowledge of Haringey its history it's policies and its procedures. Many is the time I would open my email at home to find emails sent in the wee small hours with a ready made bulletin on PFI, on our latest dispute or the future of Schools. Very rarely did they need amendment and when suggestions were made they were always taken in the positive light. Many readers outside Haringey will not realise how much he drove our work in particular the model campaign we fought against the Secondary Schools PFI and the work he did to ensure our members (and those of the GMB for that matter) were protected when we lost. The twin track approach was a model we used successfully more than once. Even year's later we would get calls from other Branches who had been referred our way by a Regional or National office. I think the biggest delight was probably seeing Glyn proved right on PFI as the contract was terminated when Jarvis went bust :)

Equally in Haringey's last major local dispute in 1999 he spent countless hours preparing in what Can only be described as a military fashion for all possibilities. (Not that Glyn is a fan of militarism or wars!)

So as he moves onto a new life in Wales I hope he realises how much we all appreciate his tireless work for the members in Haringey and the selfless commitment he showed over 20+ years. The Unions need more Glyn's with politics principles but also an immense amount of modesty.

Oh and a note to our comrades in Cymru/Wales Region if he gets a job in the public Sector make damn sure you tap him up as an assett to the movement!

Thanks and good luck mate I hope you appreciate the gifts which almost selected themselves