In the 1970s and 1980s, Acas was a household name. The Arbitration and Conciliation Service weighed into some of the biggest industrial disputes that the country had seen, developing and then reinforcing a reputation for impartiality. That still holds true, as it showed last year when it was involved in round-the-clock talks between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers’ Union.
Yet Ed Sweeney, its chairman since November, believes that Acas should have more of a presence, that its work shouldn’t be quite so unsung. In this, the former trade union leader contrasts with his predecessor Rita Donaghy, also a former trade unionist, who thought that Acas should go about its business in a low-key fashion.
Acas runs training, information and advice services to promote good industrial relations and avert the potential for disputes to flare up. More than a million people call the Acas helpline each year. Chairing Acas maintains Mr Sweeneys contact with employers and union leaders, the key elements of his working life before joining the conciliation service. Until last year he was deputy general secretary of Amicus, the union that has merged with the T&G to form Unite. He moved into that position after Unifi, his old financial union, merged with Amicus. Unifi itself was formed from a merger of three banking unions, including Bifu, which Mr Sweeney had led.
Mr Sweeney, 53, has probably had enough of mergers and there are no obvious candidates for a merger with Acas, but he has joined the organisation as it is poised to expand. Acas has been given a greater role in workplace disputes, between an employer and a member of staff rather than a union. It was given this after the Government scrapped guidelines that tried to solve disputes within the workplace.
Mr Sweeney is a lifelong union professional. A Liverpudlian, he graduated from Warwick University with a degree in politics and law and gained an MSc in industrial relations and labour law from the London School of Economics. After leaving the LSE in 1977 he joined the National Union of Bank Employees as a research officer. He is a firm advocate that the public sector should not be regarded as secondary to the private sector, although he has spent all of his life negotiating with the private sector.