New gen sec for TUC


Paul Nowak, who is currently the TUC deputy general secretary, will take over from Frances O’Grady as general secretary in January 2023.


According to the union body, he has been an active trade unionist and campaigner his whole working life, and first became a union member aged 17. He went on to have a variety of temporary and agency jobs as a call centre operator, hotel night porter and supermarket worker. 


He was a member of the first intake of the TUC’s Organising Academy in 1998 – alongside Sharon Graham, now Unite general secretary, and Roz Foyer, the general secretary of the Scottish TUC. In 2000 he joined the TUC staff.


He pledged: “As TUC general secretary, I will push back on attacks on workers’ rights, make the voices of workers heard, and back our unions to grow and win for their members and for all working people.”


He described Frances O’Grady as “an outstanding champion of working people – and an inspiration to many as the first woman to lead the TUC. 


“From securing the furlough scheme in the pandemic to overseeing an increase in union membership during her tenure, she leaves a great legacy for working people,” he concluded.


https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/paul-nowak-be-tucs-next-general-secretary