Tom S. Bavin (1909 – 11 August 1984) was a British trade union leader. Born in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, Bavin worked in agriculture. When he was 17 he joined the

National Union of Agricultural Workers The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAAW) was a trades union representing farmworkers in the United Kingdom. The Union was founded in 1906 by trade union activist George Edwards. It was dissolved in 1982 when it merged into ...

, and was elected to its executive committee when he was only 24. In 1952, he was seconded to the International Union of Food and Drink Workers, becoming its plantation representative, and helped build the new

National Union of Plantation Workers The National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) is the largest union in Malaysia and one of the largest in Asia. History The union was formed in the Federation of Malaya in 1954 by an amalgamation of smaller plantation unions. It continues to re ...

in Malaysia. In 1957, Bavin was appointed as director of organisation for the new

Plantation Workers International Federation The Plantation Workers International Federation (abbreviated PWIF) was an international trade secretariat of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. PWIF was founded at the firth ICFTU world congress held in Tunis in July 1957. Samuel ...

, then in 1959 became general secretary of its successor, the

International Federation of Plantation and Agricultural Workers The International Federation of Plantation and Agricultural Workers (IFPAAW) was a global union federation bringing together unions representing land workers. History The federation was created on December 2, 1959, when the Plantation Workers Int ...

. In 1976, he retired, but was elected as president of the federation, travelling widely in support of the union for the next six years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bavin, Tom 1909 births 1984 deaths British trade union leaders Trade unionists from Lincolnshire