I have always had a keen interest in social and labour issues, particularly in an international context. In 1983-4, I spent a year studying for a post-graduate diploma in social science from Stockholm University in Sweden. My time there introduced me to the sort of society that can be created through coherent and dynamic social democratic policies. I returned to the UK the following year to study Industrial Relations at the University of Warwick, gaining my MA in 1985.

My first job in the labour movement was with the TUC Economic Department in London where I followed issues of industrial democracy and codes of conduct relating in particular to multinational enterprises. These were formative years in the European Community which laid the ground work for much that was to follow in the form of employee information and consultation, eventually leading to the European Works Council directive.

In 1988, I joined the International Federation of White Collar workers, or FIET as it was then known, in Geneva. During the time I worked for the organisation, my responsibilities covered information technology, where I developed a global extranet based on Lotus Notes, as well as much policy development and writing on social and labour issues. I was also closely involved with the negotiations surrounding the implementation of the European Works Council directive providing for information and consultation arrrangements between management and labour. For the last four years of my time with the labour movement, I was approached by the European Commission and recruited to design and implement one of the first collaborative online information systems, dedicated to supporting social dialogue between employers and trade unions.

At the end of 2000, I struck out on my own to begin a new life as a freelance writer and IT consultant. Since then, I have continued to devote part of my working time to social and labour issues, particualrly in relation to Southern Africa and on the subject of child labour, where I have done much work recently with the ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour.