Edward Sweeney (born 6 August 1954 [1] ) is a former British trade union leader.
Sweeney grew up in Kirkby in Lancashire (now Merseyside), where he attended St Kevin's Roman Catholic Comprehensive School (became All Saints Catholic High School, Kirkby). He completed a degree in politics and law at the University of Warwick, and a master's degree in industrial relations and labour law at the London School of Economics. [2]
On graduation, Sweeney found work as a Research Officer with the National Union of Bank Employees. This was renamed as the Banking Insurance Finance Union (BIFU), and Sweeney was elected as its Deputy General Secretary in 1991, then as General Secretary in 1996. In 1999, he took it into a merger which formed UNIFI, and he won an election to become the new union's general secretary in 2000. He negotiated a further merger which made the union part of Amicus, and became its Deputy General Secretary. [3]
Sweeney was also active in the Trades Union Congress (TUC), serving on its General Council and Executive Committee. [3]
In 2007, Sweeney became Chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, standing down from his trade union posts. He also took up a visiting professorship at the University of Leeds. [3] He retired in 2013, and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. [1]
The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the Northern Polytechnic and North-Western Polytechnic in 1971. In 1996, the university celebrated its centenary, dating from the year of the Northern Polytechnic's founding. UNL existed until 2002, when it merged with London Guildhall University to form London Metropolitan University. Its former premises now form the university's north campus, on Holloway Road and Highbury Grove, Islington.
The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884 it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine and was renamed Yorkshire College. It became part of the federal Victoria University in 1887, joining Owens College and University College Liverpool. In 1904 a royal charter was granted to the University of Leeds by King Edward VII.
Anthony Woodley, Baron Woodley is a British trade unionist who was the Joint-General Secretary of Unite, a union formed through the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union, from 2007 to 2011. Despite stepping down as Joint-General Secretary, he remained as the Head of Organising for Unite until December 2013 and is still a consultant to the union. He was previously the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers union (T&G) from 2004 to 2007.
Sir John Dominic Battle, is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds West from 1987 to 2010.
Sir Brendan Paul Barber is a British trade union official. He served as chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Council until 2020. He is a former general secretary of the United Kingdom's Trades Union Congress (TUC); a post he held from June 2003 until his retirement at the end of 2012. He was appointed Acas Chair in 2014, replacing Ed Sweeney, who had been in the post since 2007. He also serves on the board of the Banking Standards Board (2015–), the Board of Transport for London (2013–), the board of Britain Stronger in Europe (2015–), the Council of City University, London and the board of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (2014–).
Lawrence Sawyer, Baron Sawyer, known as Tom Sawyer, is a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was General Secretary of the Labour Party from 1994 to 1998.
David Prentis, Baron Prentis of Leeds is a British trade unionist and former General Secretary of UNISON, the United Kingdom's largest trade union. He was originally elected in 2000. He was re-elected in March 2005, with 77% of the vote, in 2010, and in 2015.
Lewis John Edwards OBE was a British university lecturer, trade union leader and Labour Party politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and was President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
David Anthony Hearn, known as Tony Hearn, is a former British trade union leader.
Sir James O'Grady, was a trade unionist and Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the first colonial governor appointed by the Labour Party from within its own ranks.
Dame Anne Loughlin, DBE was a British labour activist and organiser.
Alan Raymond Jinkinson was a British trade union leader.
All Saints Catholic High School is a Knowsley based Roman Catholic secondary school educating pupils aged 11–18 years of age in the Kirkby area of Merseyside, England. The school also operates a sixth form.
Alexander Harper Kitson was a British trade unionist and Labour Party official.
Richard Burgon is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds East since 2015. Burgon served as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn from 2016 to 2020.
Jim Moher was a national trade union figure with two major unions from 1974 to 2006. In that time, he served in a number of capacities - legal adviser and representative ; senior occupational pensions negotiator; National Legal Secretary; National Balloting Officer, National Political Officer and Employment Tribunal representative panel director. As the CWU's Political Officer, he was at the centre of their very successful political effort to assist Labour win the 1997 general election. He was also involved with the Labour leadership in policy formulation on employment law for government but was disappointed by their failure to reform most of the legislation against trade unions of previous Conservative governments. In 1995, his booklet, entitled, Trade Unions and the Law - the politics of change, published by the Institute of Employment Rights, reviewed the history of these laws and made some suggestions for significant improvements in workers and union rights.
John Simonds was a British trade union leader.
Joseph Patrick Cotter was a British trade union leader.
Leeds Trades Council is an organisation bringing together trade unionists in Leeds, in northern England.
Bruno Storti was an Italian trade unionist and politician.