TUC general secretary to step down

Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, has announced that she will step down at the end of the year.

She was appointed in 2013, the first woman in the role, after 10 years as deputy general secretary. She joined the TUC as campaigns officer from the Transport and General Workers’ union, now part of the general union Unite, in 1994. As part of a push to win new members and improve unions’ organising abilities, she set up the TUC Organising Academy, which trained a new generation of union officials, including her current deputy, Paul Novak.

After a long period of gradual decline, union membership in Britain has grown during her period as general secretary, rising from 6.25 million in 2013 to 6.32 million in 2020 (the latest figures available). She consistently promoted the role of women, who now make up 54% of TUC membership. And in 2020 she played a key role in developing the furlough scheme at the start of the pandemic, where she worked with her opposite number in the CBI employers’ body, Carolyn Fairbairn.

The choice of her successor is made by the unions affiliated to the TUC, although the last three general secretaries held the role of deputy general secretary before being appointed to the top job.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/12/frances-ogrady-to-stand-down-as-tuc-leader-at-end-of-year

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/12/frances-ogrady-if-we-dont-get-wages-rising-we-will-hold-back-economic-growth

https://www.tuc.org.uk/person/frances-ogrady