TUC chooses new general secretary

Frances O’Grady is to take over from Brendan Barber as TUC general secretary when he retires at the end of the year. O’Grady will be the first woman general secretary of the TUC.

O’Grady, who is the TUC’s current deputy general secretary, was the only candidate nominated by unions and will become general secretary designate at the 144th Congress in Brighton this September.

Frances O’Grady said: “Never has a strong responsible trade union movement been so needed. With austerity policies biting hard and with no evidence that they are working, people at work need the TUC to speak up for them.

‘We must be the advocates of the growth and jobs alternative. And with the policy prescriptions of the last thirty years increasingly discredited, we have the best opportunity in a generation to help build a fair, productive and green economy that works for ordinary people."

www.tuc.org.uk/the_tuc/tuc-21198-f0.cfm