Robert Willis (27 February 1904 – 20 September 1982), usually known as Bob Willis, was a British

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 Employee ben ...

. Willis worked as a printer, then as a compositor with '' Reynolds News'', and joined the

London Society of Compositors The London Society of Compositors was a British trade union, representing print workers in London. History The union was founded as the London Union of Compositors in 1834 by the merger of the London Trade Society of Compositors and the Londo ...

in 1930.''The Labour Gazette'' (1958), p.1387 A member of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

in his youth, he left in the early 1930s, describing it as an "intellectual straitjacket". In 1938, he was elected as the Secretary of the London Trades Council, then in 1945, he became the general secretary of his union. He was elected to the General Council of the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

in 1947, serving until 1965, and became the

President of the Trades Union Congress The President of the Trades Union Congress is a prominent but largely honorary position in British trade unionism. History Initially, the post of president was elected at the annual Trades Union Congress (TUC) itself, and would serve just for the d ...

in 1959.''Report of the Annual Trades Union Congress'' (1982), p.338 From 1952, he also served as Chairman of the London Trades Council. Under Willis' leadership, the London Society of Compositors merged with the

Printing Machine Managers' Trade Society {{short description, Former trade union of the United Kingdom The Printing Machine Managers' Trade Society (PMMTS) was a trade union representing supervisors of machinery in the printing trade. The union was founded in 1839 as the London Printing ...

to form the "London Typographical Society". He became known as a strong speaker with forceful views. In 1964, Willis led the Compositors into a merger with the

Typographical Association The Typographical Association (TA) was a trade union representing typographers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. History The National Typographical Association collapsed in 1848, and delegates from across Yorkshire and Lancashire met at Angel ...

to form the

National Graphical Association The National Graphical Association (NGA) was a trade union representing typographers and related workers in the United Kingdom. History The union was formed in 1964 by the merger of two long-term rival unions, the Typographical Association and ...

, of which he served as joint general secretary until 1969.Arthur Ivor Marsh and Victoria Ryan, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Vol. 5'', p.43 He took a leave of absence from 1965 to 1967 to serve on the

National Board for Prices and Incomes The National Board for Prices and Incomes was created by the government of Harold Wilson in 1965 in an attempt to solve the problem of inflation in the British economy by managing wages and prices. The board's chairman was Aubrey Jones, formerl ...

References

External links

Catalogue of Willis' papers
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Bob 1904 births 1982 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain members General Secretaries of the London Typographical Association General Secretaries of the National Graphical Association Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Presidents of the Trades Union Congress 20th-century British businesspeople