Wales TUC elects new president
25 May 2011
The Wales TUC has today (25 May 2011) elected Unite's Welsh
regional secretary, Andy Richards, as its president for the next 12
months.
Mr Richards, 55, has been Unite's Welsh regional secretary
since July 2007, having been appointed to oversee the creation of
the new union in Wales, following the merger of the Transport &
General Workers Union (T&G) and Amicus.
Mr Richards spent his early years as a lay activist at Ford
Motor Company, Bridgend, holding the position of works convenor
before being appointed a full time official in 1992.
A robust negotiator, Andy Richards is largely credited with the
success of the giant Ford plant due to the diversification of the
plant’s product portfolio in the 1980s and 1990s.
A Labour party member and member of Labour’s Welsh executive
committee, Andy Richards also coordinated trade union support
for the party’s recent assembly election campaign as chair of
the Wales Trade Union Liaison Committee (TULO), a position he now
intends to relinquish to concentrate upon the role of Wales TUC
president.
Andy Richards said: “There are exciting and challenging times
ahead for the labour movement in Wales,.
“We have a Labour government which, through first minister
Carwyn Jones, has voiced its desire to work with the trade unions
to mitigate the effects of the savage cuts in the Welsh budget,
inflicted by the coalition government in Westminster. We have a
campaign of total opposition to these cuts which we are
co-ordinating across Wales.
“There is no greater honour, in my opinion, for a Welsh trade
unionist than to hold the presidency of the Wales TUC and I am
looking forward to the challenges with relish.”
ENDS
Contact Ciaran Naidoo on 07768 931 315
