controversial resolution to ensure pensions are uprated in line with earnings or prices, whichever is higher. At the 2004 Labour Party Conference, Tony Blair referred to Bickerstaffe during his keynote Leader's Speech, at which point he was heckled. "I thought, that's funny - no-one boos Rodney Bickerstaffe", Blair later quipped. Rodney was an excellent speaker. Addressing conference he used all his oratory skills with dry humour to capture a crowd. Away from the crowd he had the equivalent of a photographic memory for names and he would speak to people he’d just met as though he’d always known them. He was a warm and passionate socialist and a much underrated man Post-retirement He retired from UNISON in 2001 and succeeded Jack Jones as president of the National Pensioners Convention in April 2001. The organisation champions the rights and voice of Britain's millions of pensioners and campaigns for better pensions and healthcare. Bickerstaffe stood down in 2005 to focus on his international commitments and was succeeded by Frank Cooper. He chaired the Global Network which works with organisations in Asia, Africa and Latin America and was President of War on Want. He also chaired the Ken Gill Memorial Fund, a non-charitable trust established to commemorate his late friend, the British trade unionist and internationalist Ken Gill. In 2007, he refused a peerage. He was involved in fighting discrimination of all kinds and was a patron of the Dalit Solidarity Network, an organisation in London (UK) for opposition to the oppression of India's caste system. Honours Bickerstaffe had honorary doctorates from Keele University, the University of Hertfordshire and Sheffield Hallam University as well as the Freedom of the Borough from Doncaster metropolitan borough. Personal life On 18 May 1968, Bickerstaffe married Anne Margaret Hollis. The marriage was dissolved soon after, and on 14 July 1973 Bickerstaffe married Patricia Ann Colpus; they had four children. Death Rodney Bickerstaffe died of oesophageal cancer on 3 October 2017, at the Marie Curie Hospice in Camden, London aged 72. See also List of people who have declined a British honour References External links Catalogue of Rodney Bickerstaffe's papers, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick National Pensioners Convention website Ken Gill Memorial Fund A celebration and archive collated by friends and colleagues 1945 births 2017 deaths General Secretaries of the National Union of Public Employees General Secretaries of Unison (trade union) Members of the