Rodney Bickerstaffe obituary

One of the most important trade union leaders of the 1980s and 90s who served as the general secretary of UnisonFor more than three decades, Rodney Bickerstaffe, who has died aged 72, was one of the best known faces of the British trade union movement. Bickerstaffe, or “Bick” as he was almost universally known, was immediately recognisable by his dark, heavy-framed NHS spectacles and a shock of hair that had many comparing him with Buddy Holly. His tough, uncompromising oratory often