Dave Prentis

Dave Prentis has been General Secretary of the UK’s largest public sector union, UNISON, since January 2001. He was re-elected to the 1.4 million strong union with an overwhelming 70+% of the vote in both March 2005 and June 2010. He was UNISON’s Deputy General Secretary from its formation in 1993. Under his leadership, membership of UNISON has grown steadily. He has the tough task of leading TUC talks with the coalition government on public spending and public sector pensions. Dave was born and brought up in Leeds and went to the University of London, where he took a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. This was followed by a Masters degree in industrial relations at the University of Warwick. He is a member of the TUC General Council, TUC Executive Committee and the Trade Union Labour Party Liaison Committee. He is a member of the Labour Party Joint Policy Committee; a member of the Institute for Public Policy Research’s (IPPR) Policy Advisory Council and also Catalyst, two centre-left research bodies. Dave is also an adviser to the Warwick Institute of Governance and Public Management and a visiting fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. He is a member of various joint working parties with the government and the CBI. He is president of Unity Trust Bank. Currently President of Public Services International and Commissioner on the Board of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.