Chris Tansley (above centre) receiving an award for outstanding service from Christina McAnea and East Midlands regional secretary Chris Jenkinson earlier this year. Photo: Nigel Tissington
When he became a trade unionist, Chris Tansley could never have imagined one day becoming president of UNISON.
Now, having finally retired from the union – the last member of its inaugural national executive committee (NEC) to do so – he looks back on many years of service.
When Chris got a job with social services in Nottingham, the first thing he did was to join a union: Nalgo. Qualifying as a social worker in Bristol, he spent time in Cleveland before returning to Nottingham, where he “invented” for himself a rep’s role in the large Nalgo branch as “new technology officer”, accessing a grant to help replace typewriters with computers for staff.
Being an activist was “a big learning curve”, he says. “I remember well my first meeting, where I had to sit in front of members. I was in my twenties and was petrified about what I was going to do in this meeting and what the reaction would be.”
He was also representing members by this time – noting, with a wry chuckle, that it was often managers he represented, because “nobody else wanted to do it”.
Chris’s life took another turn as Nottinghamshire county and Nottingham city councils were told to merge social services and education, and he found himself helping to organise this. Afterwards, with his own post filled, he was asked by senior management to “stay on doing your trade union stuff”, on full-time facility time.
“I was proud of what we were doing”
In 1993, NALGO was one of the three unions that merged to become UNISON. Of that first UNISON NEC, Chris says he was “very green”, but “could see what we were trying to create – one of the world’s first equalities unions for women. It was obviously quite a threat to some people – men particularly – but we did manage to bring in rules that made sure it was an equalities union. I was very proud of what we were doing.”
Chris feels that one of his biggest achievements as a rep was to persuade his authority to bring in job evaluations, “which they did not want to do”, at a time when both employers and union branches were being taken to court for “not pursuing equal pay” on behalf of women employees.
As leaflets from no-win-no-fee lawyers were landing on employees’ desks, Chris went directly to the head of HR and stated, “Look, we’ve got to do something. The union’s going to be taken to court, you’re going to be taken to court. We’re both going to be fined lots of money”. The council took heed.
And so to 2012, when Chris was elected UNISON president. “It was a hell of a position for that young man who was frightened to sit at the front of a meeting all those years before. I was very proud to have been selected by my colleagues to do that.”
Chris has been a member of the general political fund, chair of the development and organising committee (D&O), vice-chair of UNISON’s national joint council and chair of his regional joint council.
Even after retiring from UNISON, he continues to act as a lay member on employment tribunals.
General secretary Christina McAnea says of him: “Chris has dedicated 40 years to trade union service, taking up many senior positions. He has always been loyal and hard-working.
“And members have benefitted from his unrivalled experience and expertise in defending workers’ rights and our public services.
“Chris deserves a fulfilling and relaxing retirement, and we all wish him well.”
Incredibly patient
Josie Bird, herself a former UNISON president, who worked alongside Chris for many years, adds: “He was always a consummate professional, and incredibly patient. Those D&O meetings did sometimes stray into pedantry, with people debating the exact wording of rules to the far end of a fart!”
She describes attending a Public Services International conference in Durban, South Africa, with a UNISON group that included Chris as president.
The journey home saw a 350-mile taxi ride through torrential rain to Johannesburg, in which the driver got lost, they passed groups of men on the streets openly carrying guns – and missed their flight. As panic levels rose, Josie says it was Chris who managed to maintain some calm.
But let’s let Chris himself have the final word.
On becoming active, he says: “It’s not just something that gives you great satisfaction – which it does – to be offering lots of much needed support for a lot of members.
“But the way it’ll help you grow as a person is something I don’t think is acknowledged enough.
“I’ve certainly felt confident enough to have done other things, because of the experience that trade union activity gave me.”
UNISON will miss him.
