Frances O'Grady
| Frances O'Grady | |
|---|---|
Frances O'Grady's keynote speech to TUC Congress 2013 in Bournemouth, Monday 9 September 2013
|
|
| General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress | |
|
Assumed office January 2013 |
|
| Preceded by | Brendan Barber |
| Deputy General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress | |
|
In office January 2003 – January 2013 |
|
| Preceded by | Brendan Barber |
| Succeeded by | Paul Nowak |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
9 November 1959 Oxford, England |
| Alma mater |
University of Manchester Middlesex Polytechnic |
Frances Lorraine O'Grady (born 9 November 1959) is the General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress (TUC), the first woman to hold that position.
O'Grady was born in Oxford, one of five siblings in a family of Irish descent, and was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith. Her father was a shop steward at the Leyland car plant in Cowley. She was educated at Milham Ford School, a grammar school which became comprehensive during her time there. At Manchester University, she earned a BA Hons in politics and modern history. She received a Diploma in Industrial Relations and Trade Union Studies at Middlesex Polytechnic.
She has two adult children, who she raised as a working single parent, and currently lives in London.
O'Grady worked for the Transport and General Workers' Union, where she opposed the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board, and campaigned for a minimum wage. She became TUC Campaigns Secretary in 1994 and founded the TUC Organising Academy in 1997, a scheme aimed at supporting a younger and more representative group of workers to become labour movement organisers.
She became head of the TUC's organisation department in 1999, and was then elected as Deputy General Secretary in 2003.
She led on the establishment of the union learning organisation unionlearn, which came into being in 2006. Unionlearn works with employers, unions and government to help around 220,000 workers per year to improve basic skills and access lifelong learning.
She became TUC General Secretary in January 2013, succeeding Brendan Barber.
...
Wikipedia