TUC’s first female leader to stand down after a decade at helm of union movement

Successor to Frances O’Grady to be elected in September ahead of her retirement at end of the year

‘Leading the TUC has been the greatest honour of my life,’ said Frances O’Grady (PA)

The leader of the TUC has announced she will stand down from the post after 10 years at the end of 2022.

Frances O’Grady was the Trade Union Congress’s first woman general secretary when she succeeded Brendan Barber at the start of 2013, having served as deputy for the previous decade.

She led the organisation through years of austerity, the fight against the Conservative government’s Trade Union Act and the Covid crisis, when the TUC developed proposals which led to chancellor Rishi Sunak’s introduction of the furlough scheme to support workers from being laid off. She was a prominent campaigner for Remain during the 2016 EU referendum.

Her successor will be elected at the TUC congress in September, with each affiliated union entitled to nominate a candidate.

Announcing her decision to retire, Ms O’Grady, 62, said: “Leading the TUC has been the greatest honour of my life. It has been a privilege to serve the trade union movement.

“Unions are a force for good in British society.  I am proud of what we achieved during the pandemic – from securing furlough, to keeping people safe at work, championing equality, and keeping vital services running.

“And I’m proud of the work we do every day protecting workers’ jobs, pay, rights and working conditions.

“The last decade has been turbulent – with three general elections, two anti-trade union bills, an EU referendum and a pandemic to contend with.

“But on every occasion unions have risen to the challenge and fought for working people.”

The daughter of a shop steward at the Leyland car plant in Oxford, Ms O’Grady worked for the TGWU union before being appointed TUC campaigns officer in 1994, later launching an organising academy scheme which boosted female union membership.

She has served on the Low Pay and High Pay commissions and been a been a member of the Court of the Bank of England since 2019.

Her departure comes at a time of growing union membership, with numbers increasing for the last four years in a row by over 300,000 to 6.6 million.