Gerry Anthony Morrissey (born 12 April 1960) is an Irish-born

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

trade unionist 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 ...

and was the head of the BECTU sector of the

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (minin ...

union up until his retirement in 2018. He was succeeded by Philippa Childs. Born in Tipperary,

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, Morrissey attended the local Christian Brothers school. He began his career as a catering buyer at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, joining the

Association of Broadcasting Staff The Association of Broadcasting and Allied Staffs (ABS) was a British broadcasting trade union. The organisation was founded in 1945 with the merger of the BBC Staff (Wartime) Association and the Association of BBC Engineers to form the BBC St ...

in 1977. He became prominent in the union as it underwent a series of mergers to form the

Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU), formerly the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union, is a former British trade union that became a sector of the Prospect trade union in the United ...

(BECTU). In 1998, he became one of BECTU's two Assistant General Secretaries. In February 2007, he was elected General Secretary without opposition. He is married with two children. From 2011, Morrissey also served as the President of the

Union Network International UNI Global Union, formally Union Network International (UNI), is a global union federation for the skills and services sectors, uniting national and regional trade unions. It has affiliated unions in 150 countries representing 20 million workers ...

Media and Entertainment International The Media and Entertainment International (MEI) was a global union federation representing workers in the arts. The federation was founded in 1993 with the merger of the International Secretariat of Arts, Communications, Media and Entertainment ...

section. Morrissey took BECTU into a merger with

at the start of 2017, and became the first head of the new BECTU sector of Prospect.

References

20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people British trade unionists British trade union leaders 1960 births Living people People from County Tipperary Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom {{UK-trade-unionist-bio-stub