Jack Fleming Eccles (9 February 1922 – January 2010) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 ...

. Eccles was born in

Heaton Moor Heaton Moor is a suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is one of the Four Heatons and borders Heaton Chapel, Heaton Norris and Heaton Mersey. Heaton Moor has Victorian ...

and grew up in

Chorlton Chorlton may refer to: Places * Chorlton, Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England *Chorlton, Cheshire West and Chester, in Cheshire, England *Chorlton-cum-Hardy, in Manchester, England **Chorlton (ward), an electoral ward of Manchester, England **Chorl ...

, then studied at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served with the 14th Army in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. In 1948, he took employment as an organiser with the National Union of General and Municipal Workers. His family had a long history in the union, with his grandfather

Fleming Eccles Fleming Eccles (1871 or 1872 – March 1925) was a British socialist politician and trade unionist. Born in Blackburn,''Social Democrat'', March 1925, p.18 Eccles worked as a weaver and was promoted to become an overlooker. He also took an intere ...

and father Tom Eccles both having played leading roles. Eccles also served as a Labour Party member of

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

. In 1966, he became the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

regional secretary of the union.Janice Mitchell,
Jack Eccles obituary
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 7 March 2010 In 1973, Eccles joined the 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 ...

, and in 1980, he was awarded the

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. He served as President of the TUC in 1985,Details of Past Congresses
, TUC during which time he opposed the UK miners strike. He retired the following year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eccles, Jack 1922 births 2010 deaths Alumni of the University of Manchester British military personnel of World War II Trade unionists from Greater Manchester Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Councillors in Manchester Labour Party (UK) councillors Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress People from Heaton Moor Presidents of the Trades Union Congress British expatriates in British Burma Military personnel from Manchester