Real lives at Ruskin

Comrades,

The post from Paul about John Prescott made me think about the many (sadly) times in a year that I discover the news of the death of an ex-Ruskin student and how typically our alumni have gone on to serve the labour movement with distinction.

One such person I would like to highlight has a particular current resonance - which I'll go on to explain.

Clive Webster was DGS of ACCORD - the union for staff of Lloyds and came to Ruskin via an NUM scholarship and he died last year

Here is his obituary as written by his close friend Ged Nicholls, current GS at ACCORD. It appeared in The Guardian's 'Other Lives' obituary column on 10th July.

Born in Batley, West Yorkshire, he left school at 16 to work in the Yorkshire coalfields. He progressed to the job of shot-firer, placing and detonating explosives to open up coal seams.
Clive was a member of the National Union of Mineworkers and soon gained an NUM scholarship to study politics at Ruskin College, Oxford. He considered becoming an MP, but chose instead to become a teacher (and an active member of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education). He taught at Wakefield college, where he became involved in establishing a trade union studies centre.

Clive served as Labour member of West Yorkshire county council until it was abolished by the Conservative government in 1986. He then returned to the subject that was closest to his heart, trade unionism, and taught it to his higher education students. One of his students, Brian Caton, went on to become general secretary of the Prison Officers Association.

In 1990, Clive was asked to set up the Leeds Permanent Building Society Staff Association. He was general secretary until it merged with the Independent Union of Halifax Staff in 1996. I was general secretary of the IUHS. Clive then became deputy general secretary of the larger union, Accord, which resulted after Halifax merged with the Bank of Scotland in 2000. Throughout his union career, he was dedicated to negotiating the best possible outcome for members in such difficult negotiations as the 2000 merger and the Lloyds TSB takeover in 2008.

Clive was loved by those who worked with him and was respected by management. Very many people are better off thanks to his tireless work. Shortly before he died, I was lucky enough to spend a few wonderful hours with him, laughing and reminiscing. He faced the inevitable with the courage, stoicism and compassion for those around him that were the defining characteristics of his life.

In serving to honour the memory of Clive, his great work on behalf of ACCORD and the wider labour movement, ACCORD agreed last year to fund a number of new scholarships for members to enrol on Ruskin's BA (Hons) in International Labour & Trade Union Studies (ILTUS).

As a further gesture the union has also encouraged staff members to enrol of the sister MA programme which I run at Ruskin, and I will be particularly pleased to work with these colleagues when the new programmes starts in October 2012.

This is an entirely fitting legacy for Clive's lifetime labour movement activity and behalf of Ruskin I extend sincere thanks to ACCORD for this.

In Solidarity

Ian