Hardly an unbiased grouping of "experts".
With a tip of the hat to JetPack2, his post from the other board:
I know it should be a dead thread, but out of interest I googled one of the academics and found a whole host of them listed in a union activist poster...
And the first one listed in the letter to the Guardian (Philip Taylor) is found in a newsletter describing how he was talking at discussions with Unite...
I haven't looked further since it's a pretty obvious pattern!
Quote from "Organise 2008" poster-
A conference organised by trade union organisers...
With in depth sessions on the organising approach from GMB, PCS, RMT, TGWU-Unite and TSSA
And labour movement academics including:
Andrew Barton, Christine Cooper, (University of Strathclyde), Ralph Darlington (Salford University), Mary Davis (Working Lives Research Institute), Matt Flynn (Middlesex University). Gregor Gall (University of Hertfordshire), Anne-Marie Green (University of Warwick), Kate Hardy (Queen Mary, University of London), Miguel Martinez Lucio (University of Manchester), Kim Moody, (University of Hertfordshire), Sian Moore (Working Lives Research Institute), Mel Simms (University of Warwick), John Stirling (University of Northumbria), Mark Stuart (University of Leeds) Phil Taylor (University of Strathclyde), Martin Upchurch (Middlesex University).
Also on Phil Taylor from the University of Strathclyde SBS newsletter:
Professor Phil Taylor gave a presentation in London on 29 September 2008 to trade union UNITE’s National Financial Sector Committee on the crisis in
the financial sector and its potential effects for employees. The talk prefaced an in-depth discussion of how the union might respond to the threats posed to employment and working conditions.