Alan Sapper, General Secretary Of The Actt R.i.p.

[julian_craster]

Obituary : Alan Sapper
Daily Telegraph
22/05/2006


Alan Sapper, who died on Friday aged 75, was general secretary of the
relatively small but potent Association of Cinematograph, Television and
Allied Technicians' union (ACTT) for more than 20 years.

One of the last union leaders to be appointed rather than elected, Sapper
was never shy of flexing industrial muscle and revelled in being labelled
the "champion of free collective bargaining".

He once described his role as follows: "We are selling the labour of our
members for the highest and best price, using any and every related reason
to get it. That is what a trade union leader does. He is not a philosopher
or a Socialist writer. I am a trade union negotiator and I am selling a
product."


And under Sapper's aegis, the technicians certainly became much better paid.
In 1979 he led his members in a strike that took ITV off the air for 75
days, at the end of which the average wage of technicians went up from
£8,000 to £11,620. He was less successful in his attempts to resist the
introduction of new technology and working practices at TV-am in the late
1980s.

In 1991 he was instrumental in merging the ACCT with another union to form
BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union).

Alan Louis Geoffrey Sapper was born at Hammersmith on March 18 1931 and
educated at Latymer Upper School, London, and London University. For 10
years until 1958 he worked as a botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,
identifying several new varieties of fern, which was his speciality.

Sapper then moved to ACTT as assistant to the general secretary. He left the
union to run the Writers' Guild of Great Britain from 1964 to 1967,
returning as deputy general secretary before assuming the top job in 1969.

His stance was sometimes an embarrassment to the more moderate members of
the TUC's General Council, to which he was elected in 1970. In 1972 Sapper
pressed vigorously for the TUC to call a one-day general strike in protest
at the imprisonment of five London dockers for contempt of the Industrial
Relations Court. No strike took place, but the men were released.

In the same year he was one of two members of the General Council who voted,
unsuccessfully, to break off TUC talks with the Conservative government on
the economy. Again, in 1973, he was one of two who, without success, urged
the TUC to lead a one-day strike against the government's pay restraint
policy.

In 1975 Sapper led a 72-hour strike of technical staff working in 16
independent television companies. During the strike the companies declared a
lock-out, then ended it; the technicians returned to work, and the affair
fizzled out.

Despite his reputation for militancy, Sapper was proud that British film
crews delivered work of the highest quality, and he enjoyed a good
relationship with directors such as David Puttnam, Richard Attenborough and
Alan Parker.

He was secretary of the Federation of Film Unions and treasurer of the
Federation of Broadcasting Unions. He was also president of the
Confederation of Entertainment Unions (1970-91) and of the International
Federation of Audio-Visual Workers (1974-94). Sapper was a governor of the
British Film Institute (1974-94) and of the National Film School (1980-95).

In 1991 he founded Interconnect AV, a company to support British
film-making. He retired in 2000.

Alan Sapper married, in 1959, Helen Rubens, who survives him with a son and
a daughter.

[alan gowdy]

(julian_craster @ May 22 2006, 03:29 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'> Obituary : Alan Sapper Daily Telegraph 22/05/2006 Alan Sapper, who died on Friday aged 75, was general secretary of the relatively small but potent Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians' union (ACTT) for more than 20 years. One of the last union leaders to be appointed rather than elected, Sapper was never shy of flexing industrial muscle and revelled in being labelled the "champion of free collective bargaining". He once described his role as follows: "We are selling the labour of our members for the highest and best price, using any and every related reason to get it. That is what a trade union leader does. He is not a philosopher or a Socialist writer. I am a trade union negotiator and I am selling a product." And under Sapper's aegis, the technicians certainly became much better paid. In 1979 he led his members in a strike that took ITV off the air for 75 days, at the end of which the average wage of technicians went up from £8,000 to £11,620. He was less successful in his attempts to resist the introduction of new technology and working practices at TV-am in the late 1980s. In 1991 he was instrumental in merging the ACCT with another union to form BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union). Alan Louis Geoffrey Sapper was born at Hammersmith on March 18 1931 and educated at Latymer Upper School, London, and London University. For 10 years until 1958 he worked as a botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, identifying several new varieties of fern, which was his speciality. Sapper then moved to ACTT as assistant to the general secretary. He left the union to run the Writers' Guild of Great Britain from 1964 to 1967, returning as deputy general secretary before assuming the top job in 1969. His stance was sometimes an embarrassment to the more moderate members of the TUC's General Council, to which he was elected in 1970. In 1972 Sapper pressed vigorously for the TUC to call a one-day general strike in protest at the imprisonment of five London dockers for contempt of the Industrial Relations Court. No strike took place, but the men were released. In the same year he was one of two members of the General Council who voted, unsuccessfully, to break off TUC talks with the Conservative government on the economy. Again, in 1973, he was one of two who, without success, urged the TUC to lead a one-day strike against the government's pay restraint policy. In 1975 Sapper led a 72-hour strike of technical staff working in 16 independent television companies. During the strike the companies declared a lock-out, then ended it; the technicians returned to work, and the affair fizzled out. Despite his reputation for militancy, Sapper was proud that British film crews delivered work of the highest quality, and he enjoyed a good relationship with directors such as David Puttnam, Richard Attenborough and Alan Parker. He was secretary of the Federation of Film Unions and treasurer of the Federation of Broadcasting Unions. He was also president of the Confederation of Entertainment Unions (1970-91) and of the International Federation of Audio-Visual Workers (1974-94). Sapper was a governor of the British Film Institute (1974-94) and of the National Film School (1980-95). In 1991 he founded Interconnect AV, a company to support British film-making. He retired in 2000. Alan Sapper married, in 1959, Helen Rubens, who survives him with a son and a daughter. [/b]

As an ACTT member I always resented the organisation being used (misused?) to pursue political agendas - often overseas ones with no relevance to our TV and film industry - when it should have concentrated all its energies on looking after its core responsibility; the pay and working conditions of its members. Mr Sapper was very skilful in playing the negotiating game with our employers but I can't help feeling that the current sorry state of pay and conditions have partly resulted from him being too successful and eventually killing the goose that laid golden eggs as a result.