The career of the trade union leader Alan Jinkinson, who has died aged 87 after suffering a spontaneous sub-arachnoid haemorrhage, may have looked unsurprising: Yorkshire lad rises through the ranks of his union to become the leader of the mighty Unison.
In essence, having been from 1990 the general secretary of Nalgo (the National and Local Government Officers’ Association), when in 1993 that union merged with Nupe (the National Union of Public Employees) and Cohse (the Confederation of Health Service Employees), Alan became head of the new creation, the public service union Unison, until his retirement in 1996.
