Roy Aubrey Grantham

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(12 December 1926 – 25 October 2013) was a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

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 who was the last general secretary of the

Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff The Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) was a British trade union which represented clerical and administrative employees. History The Clerks Union was formed in 1890 and later was renamed as the Nation ...

(APEX) which was involved in the

Grunwick dispute The Grunwick dispute was a British industrial dispute involving trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Chapter Road, Dollis Hill in the London suburb of Willesden, that led to a two-year strike between 1976 and 197 ...

in the 1970s. He was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

and attended King Edward VI Grammar School, Aston before being conscripted to work in a coal mine as a

Bevin Boy Bevin Boys were young British men conscripted to work in coal mines between December 1943 and March 1948, to increase the rate of coal production, which had declined through the early years of World War II. The programme was named after Ern ...

. He then worked for the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation t ...

which he left to become a full-time union organizer for the Clerical and Administrative Workers Union in 1959. In 1963 he became the assistant secretary and in 1970 the general secretary. He was also member of the TUC General Council for 11 years. Grantham was considered a moderate leader and during a bitter dispute at the Grunwick film processing plant he faced criticism from other trade unionists for not asking other unions to cut off power and supplies, but he explained that it would be illegal to do so. He also expressed concern that picketing by other unions such at the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

miners led by

Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984–85), a major event in the history of ...

would not help. Grantham then became the president of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions and the Labour government appointed him a director of Chrysler UK, but he resigned in 1981 when the company closed its Linwood plant in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. In 1985 he was elected chairman of the TUC employment committee. He was pro-European and did not support nationalisation of the banks but supported nationalisation in other sectors.Daily Telegraph Obituary Roy Grantham
Retrieved 11 November 2013 He was appointed a CBE in the 1990 New Year Honours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grantham, Roy 1926 births 2013 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire General Secretaries of the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress People educated at King Edward VI Aston School People from Birmingham, West Midlands