FEATURE Ivan Monckton retires
‘PROUD OF MY CONTRIBUTION’
Landworker looks back on Ivan Monckton’s tireless service to the union
Wolverhampton-born in 1952, Ivan moved to the countryside with his family when he was a young boy, near the Shropshire border. It was this bucolic backdrop that partly influenced his interest in agriculture – offered as a subject at his grammar school. But life isn’t just about school.
“I worked throughout my school years,” he told Landworker. “I helped the milkman, I had a paper round, and I worked at the Wolverhampton Market. I also picked fruit and potatoes in the seasons.”
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I’ve got a more feminine side... I’ve got long hair, I’m a follower of the Dalai Lama, I’m interested in nature, I only ever wear jeans and a T-shirt
Ivan Monckton, Unite star activist
It was in the fields where Ivan’s politics first emerged.
“I worked alongside Indian fruit pickers, and the racism they experienced was shocking. They were verbally abused, physically assaulted, and called all sorts of vile names. I was 15 at the time, studying for my O-levels. One of the books we had to read was by George Orwell. I wrote a letter to the local newspaper, saying George Orwell would be appalled by their treatment. That was my first political act.”
After being laid off at a farm he’d been working at, Ivan went on holiday with a friend to north Wales. They came across a Forestry Commission exhibition, and Ivan was totally enthralled.
“As soon as I returned home, I wrote to the Forestry Commission asking for a job. Within a week they got back to me and sent me to where I am to this day – in mid-Wales.”
The Forestry Commission had a strong union presence, and Ivan submitted two applications to join
Unite heritage union, the TGWU. But the convenor, someone Ivan described as a “boss’s man”, didn’t process his applications. A year later, Ivan had a horrific workplace accident that almost killed him.
“And of course, I wasn’t in the union. But I wrote to the TGWU, noting that I had tried twice to apply, but my applications weren’t processed. They accepted me into the union, took on my case and looked after me.”
It was this first experience with the TGWU that galvanised Ivan to become more involved.
Ivan quickly went from being elected as a health and safety rep, to shop steward and then on to become his local branch’s secretary. Not long after, he stood in an election to sit on the agricultural workers’ national committee – a forerunner to today’s FDA NISC.
“Because of a cock-up, I was the only one who stood, so I won the seat by default,” Ivan explained.
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