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Arena Magazine 2007 Issue 3 Autumn Arena |
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Geoff ‘s still hungry for more
Turning 60 earlier this year gave Geoff Page the chance to reflect on 33 years membership of Usdaw almost all of them as an activist, rep, lay official and now qualified tutor.
The former Sainsbury's distribution worker has seen just about everything since he joined the union in 1974 and, although retired from his day job, he is now working two to three days a week at the College of North East London passing on his knowledge and experience to the next generation of trade union activists.
"The union's been good to me so I was keen to pay something back," said Geoff. "I've enjoyed my time. I've made some great friends and met a lot of good, decent people."
Geoff started out on his Usdaw journey as a warehouseman at the Sainsbury's depot in Buntingford, Herts, and within six months was elected as a site rep. He went on to be chair of the branch, which then had around 800 members and by the early '80s he was the full-time convenor on site.
"I've held just about every post in the union at branch and federation level. I've been on the divisional council for 20 years. I've missed just one Annual Delegate Meeting since 1977 and that was because of the birth of my granddaughter Jazmin who's six now. I'm also active in both the regional TUC and my local Labour Party.
"I've witnessed many changes over the years particularly the number of women at work and active in the union, that's been a real plus for Usdaw.
"The union has also changed. It's professional, more inclusive, and much more supportive of its reps.
"There are always ups and downs when you're a rep. In 1977 I was on strike for four weeks and 30 years later was heavily involved in negotiating a generous redundancy package following a major restructure of the distribution side of the business.
"Trade unions are in my blood and in my family's. My eldest daughter Melissa is a Sata rep at Sainsbury's and my youngest daughter was also a member when she was in retail.
"I couldn't have done it without the support of my wife Sue. After a difficult day at work you need to have your family there, they have helped enormously.
"But I'm not ready to give up yet. I'm involved in our retired members set up. I've also helped run Luton & District Federation for many years. I even ended up being their tutor recently for a weekend school. So I'm still learning, still meeting great people, why would I want to stop?"
www.usdaw.org.uk/getactive
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