Norman David Willis (21 January 1933 – 7 June 2014) was the

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the United Kingdom from 1984 to 1993, and President of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) from 1991 to 1993.

Life

Willis was born in

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom *Ashford, Kent, a town **B ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. He attended

Ashford County Grammar School __NOTOC__ Spelthorne College was a single-campus Sixth form college#England, sixth form college on Church Road, Ashford, Surrey, England. It was formed in 1975 as a successor to Ashford Sixth Form College and Sunbury-on-Thames, Sunbury Sixth Form ...

, and studied at

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is a higher education institution and part of the University of West London, in Oxford, England. It is not a Colleges of the University of Oxford, college of Oxford University. Named ...

and

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...

. He was a Labour councillor on Staines UDC from 1971 to 1974.

Career

TGWU

He worked for the

TGWU The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900,000 members (a ...

from 1949 to 1951, before two years'

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

. From 1959 to 1970 he was the personal assistant to the General Secretary of the TGWU.

TUC

He became assistant General Secretary of the TUC in 1974. The leadership of Norman Willis from 1984 coincided in the late 1980s with a period of considerable change for the Trade Union movement in the UK: union membership was falling; the movement was facing power-limiting legislation from the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

government; and the Labour Party was conducting a fundamental review of its policies and the nature of its links with the unions.

Personal life

He was a patron of the

Embroiderers' Guild The Embroiderers' Guild is the UK's leading educational charity promoting embroidery. The New South Wales branch was formed in 1955. History The guild was formed in September 1906 at a meeting of sixteen ex-students of the Royal School of Art N ...

, a British

embroidery Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

organisation, and former President of

the Arthur Ransome Society The Arthur Ransome Society, also known by its acronym Tars, and whose members refer to themselves as '' Tars'', is a society whose goals are to "celebrate the life, promote the works and diffuse the ideas of Arthur Ransome". It is based at the ...

(TARS). He was a renowned raconteur. He married Maureen Kenning in 1963. They had a son and a daughter. Willis died on 7 June 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Norman General secretaries of the Trades Union Congress Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford 1933 births 2014 deaths People from Ashford, Surrey People educated at Ashford County Grammar School