ABSTRACT
It is not hard to understand why so many of the staider brothers on the TUC General Council find it difficult to stomach Clive Jenkins, flamboyant and witty general secretary of the 430,000-strong white-collar union, the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS). He thrives on his success in the cutthroat world of white-collar union competition, combining a sharp left-wing political philosophy with a love for the good things of life. Jenkins has a town house near Regent’s Park canal and a country cottage in Essex. His taste for good wine and haute cuisine fails to impress the manual union bosses, who still often believe the irrepressible Clive is simply too clever by half. He was kept off the General Council for years, because he got under the skin of the big battalions. It was not until September 1974 that the TUC Establishment capitulated by forming a new trade group section on the General Council for the area of membership growth where Jenkins has excelled – among private sector services and white-collar staff in manufacturing industry. Jenkins reached the inner circle at last, or least its outer rim. He will eventually get on to the more important TUC committees under the rules of Buggins’s turn. His enthusiastic contribution to General Council debates, particularly on education for the unions, has already enlivened many a dull session.
