BBC NEWS | UK | Union leader Lord Chapple dead (original) (raw)

Lord Chapple

Lord Chapple served at every level of the electricians' union

Lord Chapple, the former leader of the electricians' union, has died at the age of 83, it has been announced.

Frank Chapple was a leading right-wing union leader in the 1960s, 70s and the early 80s at a time when the unions were extremely powerful.

He was general secretary of EETPU from 1966 to 1984 before his retirement when he was appointed to the House of Lords as Lord Chapple of Hoxton.

His son Barry is a regional official of Amicus, which succeeded the EETPU.

Lord Chapple was a member of the TUC general council for 12 years to 1983 and served at every level in the electricians' union from shop steward to leader.

He first joined the union in 1937.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said: "Frank Chapple was a distinctive and often controversial character in the trade union movement and was a major player in some of the most dramatic trade union debates.

"Always on the right, he was never one to hold back in arguing his corner or the corner of his members."