New Director for the Institute of Employment Rights

We are delighted to announce the appointment of our new Director, James Harrison.

James originally came to the movement as a PCS rep in the UK Border Agency, and later the Passport Office where he was part of a high-profile regional campaign on pay, jobs, and against privatisation, which resulted in some significant gains for PCS members in the North West. James has been working with the Institute of Employment Rights (IER) since 2015 as our National Coordinator, and since 2021 as our Assistant Director. As a long-standing member of the IER team, James has worked with Cad Jones, Ben Sellers and the IER Executive on many pieces of work and large projects over the years, to inform the debate about employment rights.

At the start of the year, our previous Director Ben Sellers moved on to pastures new. The IER Officers asked James to step in to the position of Acting Director, which James was thrilled to do. In July, the IER Officers were so happy with how things had gone over the last 6-months, that they decided to appoint James permanently to the position of Director.

Regarding his appointment, James said:

“I’m really thrilled to be taking up this position. I’m so grateful to our previous Director’s – Cad and Ben, for their mentorship and guidance, and for the helpful and dedicated assistance of the IER Officers. I’m very much aware that these are big shoes to fill, but I’m ready to do what needs to be done to ensure the success of IER into the future.”