A former call centre worker from Merseyside is set to succeed
Frances O’Grady as TUC General Secretary when she retires at the
end of the year.
Paul Nowak, TUC Deputy General Secretary, was the sole candidate
nominated by unions and will become General Secretary Designate
at Congress in Brighton this September, before officially taking
the post in January 2022.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Paul led union efforts to make
ministers publish strong safe working guidance, negotiating
significant improvements to ensure millions of workers had a
safer environment to work in.
Before joining the TUC, Paul had a variety of temporary and
agency jobs as a call centre operator, a hotel night porter and a
supermarket worker.
Paul Nowak said: "It's an honour to be chosen as
the next TUC General Secretary.
"Working people need strong confident unions to fight their
corner.
"A decade of standstill wages, overseen by successive Tory
governments, has left working people at the mercy of this cost of
living crisis.
“But unions are rising to the challenge and fighting back.
“As TUC General Secretary, I will push back on attacks on
workers’ rights, make the voices of workers heard, and back our
unions to grow and win for their members and for all working
people.
“Before I was a trade union official, I had never had a permanent
contract at work, so I know the anxiety of life in temporary and
agency jobs first-hand.
“I will be a General Secretary who fights for every worker.
“It doesn’t matter if you work in a care home, a supermarket or a
power station – everyone deserves decent pay, job security and
dignity at work.
“Join a union, get active and together we can win.”
On succeeding Frances O’Grady, Paul added:
“Frances is an outstanding champion of working people – and an
inspiration to many as the first woman to lead the TUC.
“From securing the furlough scheme in the pandemic to overseeing
an increase in union membership during her tenure, she leaves a
great legacy for working people, and I am determined to build on
it.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Paul has been an active trade unionist and campaigner his whole
working life.
He first became a union member when he worked part-time at Asda
aged 17.
Paul worked in a call centre for Cheshire County Council’s bus
information line in the late nineties, after working on an agency
contract in a BT call centre. He also worked as a hotel night
porter. Before becoming a trade union official, Paul had always
been employed on temporary and agency contracts, so understands
the insecurity of never having a permanent contract.
Paul was a member of the first intake of the TUC's Organising
Academy in 1998 – alongside Sharon Graham, now General Secretary
of Unite and Roz Foyer, the General Secretary of the Scottish
TUC. Aged 26, he became an organiser for BIFU, the financial
services union (now part of Unite).
In 2000, Paul joined the TUC’s staff, later becoming Regional
Secretary for the north of England and subsequently Head of
Organising, reporting to the General Secretary. In 2013 he was
appointed TUC Assistant General Secretary, and in 2016 Deputy
General Secretary.
At the TUC, Paul led the campaign against the government's plans
for regional pay in the public sector, introduced the Leading
Change programme to develop the skills of senior trade unionists,
and worked closely with member unions to defend public sector
pensions.
Over the years, Paul has worked closely with unions and employers
to negotiate successful resolutions to major disputes including
at the Royal Mail and British Airways.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Paul led union efforts to improve
the government’s safe working guidance with significant success,
ensuring millions of workers had a safer environment to work in.
He supported Frances O’Grady in securing furlough, and led
campaigns for sector support for the cultural industries,
aviation and transport.
Paul is married to Vicky. They have three grown-up children and
live on the Wirral, in Merseyside. Paul is of mixed heritage and
is the grandson of immigrants: his grandfathers came to the UK
during the Second World War from Poland and China respectively,
before settling and raising families in Liverpool.
