Freddie Brown: Making sure people are treated fairly and respectfully

Freddie Brown marks his 40th anniversary working at the Ministry of Defence in July, which is almost as long as he’s been a trade unionist committed to making sure that everyone is treated fairly.

Here, he writes about his MOD career as a Professional Photographic Officer, being a Prospect rep and reports back from the recent TUC Black Workers Conference.

Freddie Brown speaking at Prospect National Conference 2022

One of my punchlines is that I was only passing through at MOD.  My first photographic job was in procurement at the old Woolwich Arsenal site.  I came in, needing a little bit more experience and I thought I’d do this for a couple of years. A couple of quick promotions later, and I’m still here. On 1 July it’ll be 40 years.

On promotion I went to a unit called the Royal Army Medical College at Millbank and my principal photographer at the time asked if I was in a union.

I was always skirting around joining a union but when the principal photographer asked me, I eventually joined. He got me involved with the Photographers’ Subcommittee because back then photographers and graphics staff were having issues.

We photographers move around a lot and needed accommodation. So, if we were going to stay in the Mess, for example, they would insist on putting us in a Sergeants’ Mess, even though we were officer grade. They didn’t want to put us in the Officers’ Mess. It was silly little things that.

Then, our job titles were changed for two reasons. One, added ‘officer’ because we are officer grades and, two, ‘professional’ because they didn’t see photographers as professionals. We had to incorporate both in our title.

I think I was fortunate at Millbank because I had a boss who was already in a trade union and he encouraged me to join, and he then encouraged me to attend meetings. I started to get more involved.

Becoming active in equality

I always say to people that to attract people and get them active in the union, you must give them something that they’re interested in.

Clearly, for me it was photography at first. But, of course, there weren’t many people like me when I joined MOD, so I was beginning to have issues.

For example, I was going up near Scotland on a job and it was all arranged. When I turned up, they didn’t quite expect someone that looked like me.

I started getting more involved in equality issues because I thought, ‘Hang on a minute, why have I been treated a little bit differently?’ I always felt that I had to work that little bit harder to show that I could do this job.

Here’s another classic example. One day we decided we’d eat in the Mess and my boss told me afterwards that someone had challenged whether ‘Freddie was allowed to eat in the Officers’ Mess’. This was in the late 80s.

Unfortunately, you still hear stories like that even in this day and age. It’s just very subtle today. Things have got better; it’s not gone away.

Sometimes my wife will say to me, ‘Why am I getting involved in certain issues?’ It’s quite simple for me. I’m a Christian man. I will always say that I don’t care what you are, or who you are. For me, it’s about being fair, treating people fairly and with respect. That’s how I get my head around everything.

I was line managing an individual and he knows about my Christian beliefs. One evening he said to me when I became his line manager, ‘Freddie, are you going to have a problem with me being gay?’

I said, ‘I don’t care what you are. What I care about is your ability to do your job right, and if someone’s giving you a hard time, then I’ll deal with it.’ That’s all I care about.

Last July I received a 3-star citation from the MOD to mark nearly four decades of service within Defence Medical Services.

In particular, it mentions my contributions through those years as a trade union rep in areas such as diversity and inclusion, in mental health and on specific occasions when I’ve supported members through a complex office relocation or a HR review.

The citation ends with some lovely remarks:

“His professionalism, firm dedication to duty and moral decency are a beacon for others to follow during a long, exceptional, unblemished career. He has on a multitude of occasions gone above and beyond expectation, unashamedly giving everything of himself, often to the detriment of his career, to dependably serve others for 38 years.”

Serving on Prospect’s National Executive Committee and chairing the Equal Opportunities Advisory Committee

People will tell you I’m always late. I’m not late because I overslept, or because I’ve missed a bus or a train. I’m just the kind of guy that throws everything at it and sometimes I overcommit. I can’t say ‘no’ and I always want to help, especially if it’s about making things better and fairer for people.

One of the things that we’ve been discussing on the Equal Opportunities Advisory Committee is about reasonable adjustments at work. Sometimes people just need to ask.

We’ve done a lot around neurodiversity too. At MOD we’re about to launch a neurodiversity toolkit and it’s something we are dealing with in Prospect too.

TUC Black Workers Conference, 11-13 April 2025

Prospect’s delegation at the TUC Black Workers Conference this year

We had a really good, 9-strong delegation at the Conference, which was held at Congress House in London. It was a good blend of both Bectu and Prospect reps and I think every one of us got up to speak at one point or another.

Prospect had one motion about an industrial strategy for the digital sector and that was carried.

Paul Nowak, the TUC General Secretary, spoke and he also thanked Dr Patrick Roach, the outgoing NASUWT General Secretary, their first black union leader. He had a standing ovation.

One motion that will be going to TUC Congress in September is around sexual harassment, which is something that Prospect has been doing a lot of work on. I didn’t realise, but it’s even worse if you are woman, and if you are black.

Among the guest speakers, we had the Cabinet Office Minister, Abena Oppong-Asare MP, and Ambassador Husam Zomlot, the Head of the Palestine Mission to the UK, who thanked the TUC for their support. There had been several emergency motions on Palestine and Gaza, and they had all been carried.

Why workers should join a union

I would encourage people to join the trade union because sometimes your employer just doesn’t know, or they are taking the biscuit. Either way, you need protection. I always tell people, ‘Please don’t try to take on your employer on your own, there is greater risk that you will lose.’ Look at it as insurance policy by having the support of your union.

Often, when I am discussing things with MOD, they say that they like dealing with trade unions because we can offer a different perspective. Unions often anticipate problems arising before the employer.