Official portrait of Baroness Drake crop 2

Jean Lesley Patricia Drake, Baroness Drake, OBE CBE (born 16 January 1948) is an English

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 ...

ist and Labour

life peer 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 ...

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

Biography

After attending university, Drake worked as a research officer at the

National Union of Public Employees The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) was a British trade union which existed between 1908 and 1993. It represented public sector workers in local government, the Health Service, universities, and water authorities. History The union w ...

, before moving to the Civil and Public Services Association in 1976. Drake was a Deputy General Secretary of the National Communications Union and, following a merger in 1995, she held the same position in the Communication Workers Union until 2008. During her tenure, she was also

President of the Trades Union Congress The president of the Trades Union Congress is a prominent but largely honorary position in United Kingdom, British trade unionism. History Initially, the post of president was elected at the annual Trades Union Congress (TUC) itself, and would serv ...

in 2005, and supported a 24 hour strike by workers at a

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

factory owned by Japanese company Fujitsu, over jobs being moved to the United States. Drake serves as a trustee of the O2 and

Alliance & Leicester Alliance & Leicester plc was a British bank and former building society, formed by the merger in 1985 of the Alliance Building Society and the Leicester Building Society. The business Demutualisation, demutualised in the middle of 1997, when ...

pension funds, has been a board member of the Pension Protection Fund since 2004, and was appointed to the board of trustees of the The People’s Pension in 2020. She was Deputy Chair of the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). She also sits an independent member of the Private Equity Reporting Group. She was a commissioner of the

Equality and Human Rights Commission The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body in Great Britain, established by the Equality Act 2006 with effect from 1 October 2007. The Commission has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of e ...

from 2006 to 2009. She has also served as a member of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. On 20 June 2010, she was created a

in the House of Lords as Baroness Drake, ''of Shene in the

County of Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the west. The largest settlement is Woking. The cou ...

''. In the House of Lords, Drake has chaired the House of Lords Constitution Committee, where she worked on an enquiry about the relationship between UK Government and the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. After the introduction of mandatory photographic IDs for voting, Drake warned how young and elderly people, people with disabilities, and people from ethnic minority backgrounds often do not own a photo ID that is accepted at polling stations and suggested voter authority certificates (VAC) to address this inequality. Drake was one of the founders of the government auto-enrolment pensions scheme, and later lodged an amendment in the Lords to the Pension Schemes Bill to introduce a

carer A caregiver, carer or support worker is a paid or unpaid person who helps an individual with activities of daily living. Caregivers who are members of a care recipient's family or social network, who may have specific professional training, are o ...

’s credit paid through the social security system towards a private pension. Drake also speaks at events, such as on a panel about women and pensions at the 2017

Women of the World Festival WOW – Women of the World Festival (WOW, WOW Festival) is a network of arts festivals that celebrate the achievements of women and girls as well as highlighting the obstacles that face them, and is part of a global feminist movement. The WOW F ...

, organised by the

Fawcett Society The Fawcett Society is a membership charity in the United Kingdom which campaigns for women's rights. The organisation dates back to 1866, when Millicent Garrett Fawcett dedicated her life to the peaceful campaign for women's suffrage. From 190 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Jeannie Living people 1948 births Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Presidents of the Trades Union Congress Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Life peers created by Elizabeth II