Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, (29 April 1943 – 13 March 2018) was a British

trade unionist 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 (s ...

and Labour Party politician. As general secretary of

SOGAT The Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) was a British trade union in the printing industry. History SOGAT was formed in 1966 by the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers and the National Society of Operative ...

from 1985 until 1991, she was "the first woman elected to head a major industrial trade union."

Early life

She was born in Salford; her father was a railway

signalman A signalman is a person who historically made signals using flags and light. In modern times, the role of signalmen has evolved and now usually uses electronic communication equipment. Signalmen usually work in rail transport networks, armed for ...

and her mother worked in a carpet factory. When she was a child the family moved to Eccles, and she attended Stretford High School for Girls.

Trade union career

She began her career as a trade unionist as a teenager, initially as a member of the

National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers The National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers (NUPBPW) was a British trade union. History The union was founded in 1921 as the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding, Machine Ruling and Paper Workers when the National Union o ...

. In 1972 she became assistant secretary of the Manchester branch of the print union

(Society of Graphical and Allied Trades), and became involved in negotiations over the introduction of new technology to the printing industry. Rising through the union hierarchy, she became President of SOGAT in 1983, and was elected as its General Secretary in 1985, becoming "the first woman elected to lead a major industrial union". She recognised the threats to her members' jobs of impending changes in the print industry, and, it later became clear, held private meetings with

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

in secret to discuss his plans. During the

Wapping dispute The Wapping dispute was a lengthy failed strike by print workers in London in 1986. Print unions tried to block distribution of ''The Sunday Times'', along with other newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's News International group, after production w ...

of 1986/87, she "became one of the best-known trade union leaders in Britain." However, in her attempts to resolve the strike, "she was bitterly denounced by some people in the militant Fleet Street chapels (union branches) as a “Judas”, she was derided as “a film star” because of her blond good looks and her leadership was decried when she put the survival of the union, with 90% of its members in the provinces, ahead of what was essentially a London dispute." In 1991, SOGAT became part of the

Graphical, Paper and Media Union The Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU) was a trade union in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland between 1991 and 2005. History The GPMU was formed from the merger of SOGAT and the National Graphical Association (NGA) and cl ...

. Dean stood for the general secretaryship, but was narrowly defeated by

Tony Dubbins Tony Dubbins was a prominent British trade unionist until his retirement from Unite in 2008. He first became a full-time union official in the National Graphical Association and became general secretary in 1984, leading the union through th ...

, by 78,654 votes to 72,657. Instead, she became the union's deputy general secretary, serving for a single year before resigning.

Member of the House of Lords

Dean was raised to the peerage in October 1993 as Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, ''of Eccles in the County of

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

'' and was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

in 1998. She was a member of the Labour opposition front bench in the House of Lords from 1994 until 1997, and a member of the

National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education The Dearing Report, formally known as the reports of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, is a series of major reports into the future of Higher Education in the United Kingdom, published in 1997. The report was commissioned by ...

that published an influential report in 1997. She chaired the armed forces pay review body (1999-2004), the Covent Garden market authority (2005–13) and the Housing Corporation, now Homes England, (1997-2003); and was a member of the Royal Commission on House of Lords Reform in 1999.

Other activities

She was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

in 1992. Her autobiography, ''Hot Mettle'', deals largely with her tenure as SOGAT General Secretary at the time of

's battles with her own and other trades unions, notably the

. She was a vice-president of the Debating Group.Debating Group
, debatinggroup.org.uk; accessed 21 May 2015. She was interviewed by

National Life Stories National Life Stories is an independent charitable trust and limited company (registered as the ‘National Life Story Collection’) based within the British Library Oral History section, whose key focus and expertise is oral history fieldwork. S ...

in 2007–8 for the 'Oral History of the British Press' collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Dean, Brenda (1 of 11) National Life Stories Collection: 'Oral History of the British Press', The British Library Board, 2007-8
Retrieved 7 October 2017 She became a director for

Labour Tomorrow Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

on 28 June 2016, an organisation that funds groups that oppose

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialis ...

as Labour leader.

Personal life

From 1977, her partner was Keith McDowall, later deputy director general of the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...

; they married in 1988. Brenda Dean died on 13 March 2018, aged 74.

References

External links

Catalogue of Dean's papers
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, Brenda Dean, Baroness 1943 births 2018 deaths Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Labour Party (UK) life peers General secretaries of British trade unions Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Salford Presidents of British trade unions