It is with sadness, pride and a smile that I remember Nigel de Gruchy, who served as general secretary of the NASUWT between 1990 and 2002 and who passed away on Saturday.
I first met Nigel in 1998 after my appointment as a NASUWT staff member to lead on the union’s education and equalities work.
Back then, Nigel’s name was synonymous with education. For more than a decade he was instrumental in reshaping the language of industrial relations and in firing the national debate on education.
The politics of the soundbite was something Nigel claimed as his own. His choice of words may not always have been comfortable, but it was always memorable
Above all, throughout his life, Nigel was passionate about the need for workers to stand together to “insist upon fairness”.
While the fight for justice at work – for fair pay and conditions for teachers – was a driving force in Nigel’s time as NASUWT general secretary, he also believed that “partnership is preferable to the traditional and confrontational ways of the past but [that] trade unions can only adopt such an approach in a context where employees are treated with dignity and justice”.
Rarely off our TV screens
Nigel was a pivotal figure in education and beyond.
Rarely off our TV screens or radio news broadcasts, and well before the advent of social media, Nigel had a knack of being able to communicate directly to teachers, parents and the public in a way that many politicians could only dream of.
The politics of the soundbite was something Nigel claimed as his own. His choice of words may not always have been comfortable, but it was always memorable.
Nigel was born in 1943 on the Channel Island of Jersey, then under the occupation of Nazi Germany.
He was educated at De La Salle College and was a graduate in economics and philosophy from Reading University in 1965.
He briefly taught in Spain and France where he gained political fire in the belly witnessing the 1968 student riots and general strike.
That political courage and voice was nurtured, challenged and sustained throughout by his patient and wonderful wife, Judy.
It was in London that Nigel got hooked on trade union activism.
Politics was forever in his blood
He rose rapidly through the ranks of the NASUWT, before being elected deputy general secretary in 1983 and general secretary in 1990.
Nigel was instrumental in establishing the international coalition of education trade unions – Education International – which today represents more than 32 million teachers and educators worldwide.
President of the TUC in 2002-03, Nigel retired from trade union life in 2003. But politics was forever in his blood and he stood as the Labour Party candidate in the Orpington parliamentary seat at the 2015 general election at the grand age of 72.
Nigel’s adage throughout his trade union career was “putting teachers first”.
In groundbreaking industrial campaigns pursued against the Conservative and Labour governments of the day, Nigel brought the issue of teacher workload to the fore, helping to forge the conditions for the historic national agreement between unions, employers and the Labour government on raising standards and tackling workload.
Nigel’s tireless campaigning on pupil behaviour culminated in a precedential victory in the High Court in 2001 (P vs NASUWT), securing the legal right of all teachers to refuse to teach violent pupils and resisting the misapplication of the human rights act.
A gifted, determined and influential trade union leader
Nigel understood the art of capturing public opinion in support of teachers, pioneering industrial action “with a halo” by utilising action short of strikes to win industrial disputes without disrupting children’s education.
A thorn in the side of numerous education secretaries, Nigel was the trade unionist who told it straight. His sharp turn of phrase may have offended some, but his skill of getting to the heart of the matter was unrivalled.
Amongst many of his qualities was his sense of humour.
I remember his chairing of the TUC Congress in September 2003 where proceedings had to be suspended as Nigel and the great Bill Morris (former leader of the Transport and General Workers’ Union) collapsed into a fit of giggles.
Even in the midst of the serious business of the day, Nigel still found something to smile about.
Like him or not, Nigel de Gruchy was a public figure who demanded and secured attention.
An irritant to many a politician, and unafraid to say whatever he was thinking, he will be remembered as a gifted, determined and influential trade union leader, whose sharp words were often the spur for action.
Your thoughts