William McLean (1919 – 28 September 1977) was a Scottish

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

. Born in

Larkhall Larkhall ( sco, Larkhauch, gd, Taigh na h-Uiseig) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, around southeast of Glasgow. It is twinned with Seclin in northern France. Larkhall sits on high ground between the River Clyde to the East and the ...

, McLean left school at the age of fourteen to work at a local colliery. He followed his father in joining the

Scottish Area of the National Union of Mineworkers The National Union of Scottish Mineworkers (NUSW) is a trade union in Scotland, founded in 1894 as the Scottish Miners Federation. It joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, and in 1914 changed its name to National Union of Scottish Minew ...

, and regularly attended miners' conferences."Leader of Scots miners dies", ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', 29 September 1977, p.4 He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), and became a full-time agent of the union in 1956. He served as the Mineworkers' representative on the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation from the English and Welsh T ...

' (STUC) General Council, and served as President of the STUC in 1967/68.Ian MacDougall, ''Voices from Work and Home'', p.514 In 1968, McLean became a vice-president of the Scottish Area, then the following year was elected as its general secretary. He led the union through the UK miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974. Becoming ill in 1977, he planned to fly to

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

for treatment, but died in hospital in Edinburgh before he could leave the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Bill 1919 births 1977 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain members People from Larkhall Scottish trade unionists