Tony Woodley
Tony Woodley (born 2 January 1948) is a British Trade Union leader who came to prominence in June 2003 when he was elected to succeed Bill Morris as General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union (T&G). He is an unashamed member of the so-called "Awkward Squad" of trade union leaders opposed to New Labour policies that they perceive to be against the interests of working people.He was born and educated in The Wirral. At the age of 15 he was taken on by the Ocean Steam Ship Company and worked as a seafarer for four years. In 1967 he started working for Vauxhall Motors at Ellesmere Port, where, in 1980, he was elected union convenor. He was appointed as a full-time district official of the T&G in 1989, and then elected as T&G deputy general secretary in 2002.
On 30 May 2003 he was elected by the membership to be general secretary of the T&G. He received 66,958 votes: 21,822 more than the second-placed candidate, Jack Dromey, who was widely perceived as the Blairite candidate. He will take up the position in October 2003.
After his election he said in an interview with The Independent newspaper :
- "A priority for stronger unions in the workplace must be a repeal of the anti-union laws ... British employment laws make it easier and cheaper to sack workers than on the Continent. I will campaign to stop the scandal of British workers being the cannon fodder of Europe."
