David Prentis, Baron Prentis of Leeds (born 29 May 1948) is a British trade unionist and former General Secretary of

UNISON Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

, the

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

's largest

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. He was originally elected in 2000. He was re-elected in March 2005 with 77% of the vote, in 2010 with 67% of the vote, and in 2015 with 49% of the vote.

Early life

Prentis was born and brought up in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

where he attended St Michael's College from 1959 to 1967. He went to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

where he took a BA in History, then studied Economic History at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. This was followed by a master's degree in

Industrial Relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor union, labor/trade unions, employer organ ...

at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

Trade unions

He joined NALGO in 1975, and in 1990 he became its deputy general secretary. He was UNISON's deputy general secretary (DGS) from its formation in July 1993, when it was formed from NALGO, NUPE and CoHSE.

UNISON leadership

In his role as the deputy general secretary, Prentis directed UNISON's national negotiating team and oversaw the union's policy making functions. He also drove through a strategic review of the union, aimed at delivering key reforms, to bring union services closer to the members. In 2001, he succeeded Rodney Bickerstaffe as General Secretary of UNISON, having been elected in February 2000. Prentis was responsible for 1,500 staff and a turnover of around £160 million. As General Secretary, he received a total salary and benefits package worth £112,114 in the accounting year ending 31 December 2013. He was a member of the TUC General Council, TUC executive committee and the Trade Union Labour Party Liaison Committee. He was elected President of the TUC for the year 2008. In July 2020, he announced his decision to step down at the end of the year. Christina McAnea was elected as his successor in a ballot of members, in which she won 47.7% of the vote. It was announced on 14 October 2022, that as part of the 2022 Special Honours, Prentis would receive a

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

, sitting for the Labour Party. On 18 November 2022, he was created Baron Prentis of Leeds, ''of Harehills in the City of Leeds''.

Public appointments

*Trustee of the

Institute for Public Policy Research The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a Progressivism, progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 by Clive Hollick, Baron Hollick, Lord Hollick and John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, Lord Eatwell, and is an independen ...

(IPPR) and also

Catalyst Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

, two centre-left research bodies *Adviser to the Warwick Institute of Governance and Public Management *Visiting fellow of

Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college specialising in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. N ...

*Member of various joint working parties with the government and the CBI *President of

Unity Trust Bank Unity Trust Bank plc provides specialist business banking services to trade unions, charities and other organisations that operate in the not-for-profit sector in the United Kingdom and, since 2015, its remit has expanded to include profit-with-pu ...

* since, 1 June 2012, non-executive director of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

. The initial appointment is until 31 May 2015. For the accounting year 2013/14 non-executive directors of the Bank of England received total remuneration of £165,458.

Personal life

In 2000, he was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

of the

oesophagus The esophagus (American English), oesophagus (British English), or œsophagus ( archaic spelling) ( see spelling difference) all ; : ((o)e)(œ)sophagi or ((o)e)(œ)sophaguses), colloquially known also as the food pipe, food tube, or gullet, ...

and

stomach The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the upper gastrointestinal tract of Human, humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The Ancient Greek name for the stomach is ''gaster'' which is used as ''gastric'' in medical t ...

. He had much of his stomach removed, underwent

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

, and then contracted

MRSA Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' (MRSA) is a group of gram-positive bacteria that are genetically distinct from other strains of ''Staphylococcus aureus''. MRSA is responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. ...

in hospital. Since his recovery from cancer he has been unable to eat large meals.

References

External links

UNISON

News items

Elected in February 2000
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prentis, Dave 1948 births Alumni of the University of Warwick General secretaries of Unison (trade union) Trade unionists from Leeds Alumni of the London School of Economics Living people Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Presidents of the Trades Union Congress People educated at Mount St Mary's Catholic High School, Leeds Prentis of Leeds Prentis of Leeds