Alan Sapper
Alan Sapper (18 March 1931 – 19 May 2006) was a
trade unionist
.
Biography
Born in
scriptwriting. He was General Secretary of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain from 1964, before returning to ACTT as General Secretary, serving until 1991, when the union merged with the Association of Broadcasting Staffs to form the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Allied Trades Union (BECTU) of which he was briefly Joint General Secretary. He acquired a reputation for supporting militant action to defend technicians' pay and conditions, in particular in the ITV strike of 1979, where he secured an almost 30% pay rise.[1]
He supported the proposal of some union members for the nationalisation of the British film industry (both as a socialist principle and as a means of providing financial stability for the rocky industry) and for the appointment of the first trade union researcher into discrimination against women (1974). He was strongly guided in both initiatives by the ACTT's research officer, Roy Lockett.
Sapper served as the
International Federation of Audio Visual Workers.[1]
Sapper's brother Laurie also became the leader of a trade union.[2]
References
- ^ a b Dennis Barker, "Obituary: Alan Sapper", The Guardian.
- ^ Sapper, Laurie, Compendium of Communist Biography.