Joseph Peter Dawson (18 March 1940 – 19 January 2005) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

leader. Born in

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

, Dawson attended

University College Swansea , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

and qualified as a schoolteacher. From 1962 until 1964, he was a vice-president of the National Union of Students. After university, he found work at

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

Grammar School, but devoted much of his time to the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and in 1965 began working full-time for the union. After working as a field officer for the NUT for four years, Dawson moved to become assistant secretary of the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions (ATTI). In this role, he supported lecturers at the

Guildford School of Art Guildford School of Art was formed in 1856 as Guildford Working Men's Institution and was one of several schools of art run by Surrey County Council. After several mergers with tertiary art institutions it became part of the University for the ...

who had been sacked for objecting to it amalgamating with another college, and Jennifer Muscutt, who had been sacked from Garretts Green Technical College for taking part in a sexually-explicit educational film before she started working at the institution. Both cases were resolved successfully, and the ATTI grew rapidly, with Dawson moving to become its negotiating secretary in 1974. The ATTI took part in a merger which formed the

National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) was the British trade union and professional association for people working with those above statutory school age, and primarily concerned with providing education, tr ...

(NATFHE), and in 1979 Dawson was appointed as general secretary of the new union. During the decade he led the union, it faced difficulties as

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...

budgets were cut. In 1989, a new law required all union general secretaries to be elected. Dawson accordingly stood for his post, but lost the election to Geoff Woolf. Instead, Dawson returned to working as the union's assistant secretary, while devoting much of his time to international affairs, working part-time for the European Trade Union Committee for Education and then Education International. Dawson retired in 1998, but continued working as a consultant to Education International, also serving as a Labour Party councillor on

Lewisham London Borough Council Lewisham London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Lewisham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council is unusual in that its executi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Peter 1940 births 2005 deaths Councillors in the London Borough of Lewisham Labour Party (UK) councillors British trade union leaders Politicians from Swansea Welsh trade unionists