This is taken from The Independent:

Roger Bolton
General Secretary of Bectu
Published: 28 November 2006

Roger Bolton, trade unionist and photographer: born Dublin 7 September 1947; photographic assistant, Boots the Chemists 1960-64; photographer, Belgrave Press Bureau 1964-69; photographic technician, BBC TV News 1969-79; organiser, Association of Broadcasting Staff 1979-84; organiser, Broadcasting Entertainment Trades Alliance 1984-93; General Secretary, Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union 1993-2006; married 1974 Elaine Lewis (one daughter); died Woking, Surrey 18 November 2006.

'The sun will now shine on millions of workers including television and film freelancers." In the chill of a wintry February in 2001, the union leader Roger Bolton told the members of the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union - Bectu - that they had won a long and bitter battle with the Government.

The British government had excluded workers from accruing their rights to paid annual leave under the Working Time regulations until they had completed a qualifying period of employment of 13 weeks with their employer. As a consequence many workers on short-term contracts and working for a multitude of employers found that their frequent fallow periods were, in fact, their holidays without pay. The victory meant that Bectu became the first trade union ever to take the Government to the European Court and have its policy ruled as unlawful.

It was a powerful blow against the New Labour fetish for US-style deregulated labour markets and Bolton, who held loyalty to his party as the first virtue, took little satisfaction in humiliating a Labour government. It was his unwavering determination and steady nerves that kept the sometimes fissiparous and financially fraught union on course to victory. The risks were high. Failure would have put the union in great danger of financial ruin.

Roger Bolton was born in Dublin in 1947 and came to London as a boy of 10 with his family. He studied photography at the Regent Street Polytechnic and worked as a freelance photographer before finding more secure employment as a photographic technician with the BBC.

He built his reputation as a highly organised and disciplined activist in the news branch of the BBC staff union, the Association of Broadcasting Staff. It was from this base that he became a full-time organiser. His steady advance though the machinery of the trade-union movement was no bureaucrat's progress. It coincided with a period of rapid growth in broadcasting, massive flows of capital and fierce commercial pressures. Bolton was in the centre of a succession of bruising disputes.

The unions faced big obstacles and confronted powerful personalities. They met these challenges with some difficulty but, through a rational merger policy, brought together broadcast staff, technicians in film and television, theatre staff, workers in processing and distribution and managed to hold in membership the dispossessed and sometimes distressed legions of freelancers.

The merged union, Bectu, which Bolton led for 13 years as General Secretary, defied many industry observers - and disappointed some employers - by overcoming sectional differences and by its success in maintaining industrial organisation in the midst of what effectively became the privatisation and commercialisation of public-service broadcasting.

Bolton defeated various contenders for the job of General Secretary and forged notably productive partnerships with Roy Lockett - whom he bested but who became his trusted deputy - and latterly with Gerry Morrissey, the current number two. Such was his authority that the last time he stood for the post no opponent could be found. His reputation was based on the respect his colleagues and the employers had for his shrewdness and negotiating skills and deepened by his personal qualities of modesty and discipline.

A big factor in maintaining the stability of the organisation was the trust he invested in lay elected officials, particularly the talented and mercurial president Tony Lennon. Bolton's willingness to delegate combined with the sharp eye he kept on industry trends and membership moods were an essential part of the mix. He was sensitive to the insecurities of his often precariously employed members but unyielding in defence of trade-union organisation. His contempt for the inflated egos of broadcasters and self-important industry personalities who crossed picket lines was all the more withering because it was understated.

A high point was the 1989 BBC pay battle. Cool nerves, a sharp tactical brain, careful marshalling of his union's precious reserves and a sustained campaign of 13 stoppages took the employers to Acas and resulted in an unprecedented 8.8 per cent pay rise.

Roger Bolton kept a close watch on training and professional development and was a valued board member of the industry's training agency Skillset. He was a member of the British Screen Advisory Council, the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund and a governor of the National Film and Television School.

Diagnosed with cancer in early 2005, he spent many months in hospital. He went back to work the moment his illness was in remission but it returned and he died 10 days ago at home in Woking.

Nick Wright

This is taken from The Guardian:

Roger Bolton
General secretary of Bectu, the media union
Gerry Morrissey
Friday December 8, 2006

Roger Bolton, who has died aged 59 from non-Hodgkins lymphoma, was general secretary of the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (Bectu) from 1993 to 2006. In an industrial milieu that is sometimes dominated and dazzled by flamboyant personalities and oversized egos, Roger mobilised his organisational and political skills to consolidate the occasionally warring tribes of media workers into a stable, secure and increasingly effective union. He achieved this in a time of massive technical advances that eroded traditional jobs, an industrial law climate that weakened employment rights and the massive injection of foreign capital and a concentration of employer power that placed the people he represented at a great disadvantage.

Born in Dublin, he went to London with his family in 1958. He was educated at St Thomas More's school, studied photography at Regent Street Polytechnic, and briefly worked as a photographic sales assistant at Boots the Chemist, before moving on to work as a freelance photographer for the Belgrave Press Bureau.

He joined the BBC as a photographic technician in 1970, becoming active in what is now called the London Television News branch of Bectu's forerunner the Association of Broadcasting Staff (ABS). In 1979 he became a full-time official at the union.

When the ABS and National Association of Theatrical, Television and Kine Employees (NATTKE) amalgamated in 1984 to form the Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance (BETA), Roger was promoted in 1988 to what is now known as supervisory official of the BBC division, a position he continued to hold after the amalgamation of BETA and ACTT (Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians) into the newly formed Bectu.

As supervisory official he led the joint unions at the BBC in many disputes, most notably the long pay dispute in 1989, which, after 13 strikes, was ultimately successful and resulted in substantial pay increases. During this time Roger's skills as a negotiator and communicator were clear for all to see. In 1993, he won the election to become Bectu's general secretary, defeating Roy Lockett, who became his deputy.

In his 13 years as general secretary, Roger guided Bectu through difficult internal and industrial challenges. The union's present financial stability is entirely down to Roger's firm management skills. Without Roger's intelligent organisational strategy the union would not have emerged unscathed as it did from the upheavals in the BBC, ITV, theatre and film industries.

His management of the national executive committe and connected matters was phenomenal; he was always prepared for meetings and his letter-writing was legendary.

In 2001, Roger took the British government to the European court on behalf of freelance and contract workers who were being denied holiday pay despite the provisions of the EU working time directive. He won.

Roger was a member of the British Screen Advisory Council, the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund, a board member of Skillset and a governor of the National Film and Television School. He was admired and respected by politicians, employers and trade unionists both at home and abroad. His interests extended beyond Bectu, to the British and international labour movement in which he held many positions.

Roger was never interested in the celebrity side of the media despite attending many functions, including visits to Buckingham Palace and Downing Street. My favourite story is of a party given by media mogul Ted Turner and his then wife Jane Fonda. It was attended by a number of union general secretaries and at one point Roger was in a small group that included Jane Fonda, which stood chatting together for some time. Later, other union colleagues said to Roger how stunning Jane Fonda looked, to which Roger replied: "Is she here?"

From February 2005, Roger had battled courageously against his illness. He had had many plans for his retirement, including travel, a bit of fishing and to enjoy days at the races.

He is survived by his wife Elaine, daughter Sally, and grandson Charles.

· Roger William Bolton, trade unionist, born September 7 1947; died November 18 2006