“My trade unionism has always come from my workplace experiences and a sense of never being in awe of people,” Dave Ward tells me.

After having fronted the Communication Workers Union (CWU) for four years now, it is clear that there are not many who Ward would bow to. After having been brought up at a very young age to “see when something’s wrong,” the fanatical Chelsea supporter and lifelong socialist has fought his way through London’s postal depots to emerge as one of Britain’s most thoughtful – and outspoken – union figures.

Following the union’s recent conference in Bournemouth, Ward’s recent concerns have been focused on meaningfully fighting the challenges the labour movement faces. After winning his position in 2015, he has overseen an overhaul in the union’s structures, and has seen it grow in stature and political weight into being a union with a serious ability to make progressive interventions in the labour movement.

For Ward, the agenda is simple. “One: rebuild our industrial strength. Two: improve the fortunes of the trade union movement. Three: bring about political change. We have a very clear agenda.”

This has been shown in the New Deal for Workers, a “statement of intent” to reform the trade union movement which Ward got through the Trades Union Congress last year.

It is also about facing the immediate challenges that the 21st century has foisted upon the movement. In his general secretary speech this Sunday, Ward described at length how the growth in new technologies is being used by management to gain ever greater control over the lives of workers.

Delegates described time and time again how management demands are leading to soaring levels of mental health problems in the workplace, with some saying that they work with veterans of Afghanistan who cannot cope with the pressures of Royal Mail.

In response, Ward has called for a campaign to overturn management control and to campaign for the wellbeing of members. “Are we going to accept this?” Ward asked. “I don’t think this is complicated.”

“We’re not the first union to say any of this. But why don’t we be the first union that says, well we know you’ve got the technology. We know you can watch us. We ain’t having it.

“I went to a meeting a few weeks back in my old branch, and one of my old branch members challenged me at the meeting.

“But he just said to me, ‘Dave why don’t we tell them to f off? People are getting fed up of all this’. It made me think – seriously made me think – that we have got the power to do that.

“We can be the union that goes, we’re not having it – no, we’re not going to let you plan our routes.

“You can plan them, but I’m going to only do 75% of the time you expect me to work at the pace you expect me to work and I don’t care whether you discipline me.

“If every worker said that…”

Ward has also been a staunch supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, having announced early in the 2015 leadership campaign that Corbyn must be elected to extirpate the “Blairite virus” from society.

Given that his speeches are regularly barbed with Eurosceptic references – this is no exception at this conference, where he said that “the real fight for workers’ rights starts here in the UK, and not in Brussels” (he shoots back: “well it’s true, ain’t it?”) – I ask him if he backed last week’s meeting of Labour’s national executive committee, which refused to commit the party to campaigning for a second referendum in the upcoming European elections.

“Great decision. Another big moment. It almost gives them the green light to now negotiate.”

He is not short of praise for Corbyn’s ability to outmanoeuvre the Tories over the current Brexit deal, offering that: “Jeremy’s got to reel them in – and that’s what’s happening.

“The last card May’s got to turn over is to do the deal.

“I don’t think it’s the issue of what a customs union or what a close relationship with the EU would look like, but whether she’s prepared to take on the hard right in her party.”

Ward said that you firmly “have to respect the democracy of the vote”, but added that if Labour can push the Tories towards a deal on Brexit which would resemble a “softer” departure from Brussels, then “I would be saying – take the deal.

There would be “greater platform,” Ward believes, in electoral terms for the party, which is currently struggling in Brexit-voting areas, and offered no kind words for the “elite bubble” within the People’s Vote campaign who have “supported the whole neoliberal agenda, support competition, and are out to get Jeremy Corbyn.

“They would rather that they stopped Jeremy getting into Number 10 and destroying the chances of that government than not having their power back in the Labour Party.”

However, he accepts that hundreds of thousands of people see Brexit as the most important issue in their lives, and believes that Corbyn must keep them onboard. Brexit is not the most important issue for Ward, and he insists that the labour movement as a whole has to return to discussing bread-and-butter issues to change society.

“The biggest thing that will change people’s lives in this country is getting Labour elected.”

Does he believe that a Corbyn government could represent real change, as well as pushing Europe significantly to the left?

“Not straight away, but it could end up being a beacon. He could end up setting the agenda for the next generation.

“That’s why it must happen and we’ve got to make sure it does.”