Anthony Woodley, Baron Woodley (born 2 January 1948) is 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 ...

who was the Joint- General Secretary of Unite, a union formed through the merger of Amicus and the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

, from 2007 to 2011. Despite stepping down as Joint-General Secretary, he remained as the Head of Organising for Unite until December 2013 and is still a consultant to the union. He was previously the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers union (T&G) from 2004 to 2007. He was created a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

life peer in November 2020 with the title Baron Woodley, ''of Wallasey in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral'', after initially declining the peerage.

Early life

Born in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

(now

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

), he was educated at a

secondary modern school A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...

on the Wirral. At the age of 15, he was taken on by the Ocean Steam Ship Company, working as a steward for four years. In 1967, he started working for

Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors LimitedCompany No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. () is a British car compa ...

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...

, where he first joined the TGWU.

Trade unionist

In 1980, he was elected as a full-time union convenor; his father George had also been a union convenor at the plant for the

National Union of Vehicle Builders The National Union of Vehicle Builders (NUVB) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The NUVB represented a mixture of skilled and unskilled workers in the automotive industry. History The union was formed in 1834 as the United Kingdom Societ ...

. He was also appointed as a full-time district official of the TGWU in 1989, later becoming the National Officer of the Vehicle Building and Automotive Group, and was elected as TGWU Deputy General Secretary in 2002.

General Secretary

He first came to national prominence when, on 30 May 2003, he was elected to succeed Bill Morris as General Secretary of the TGWU. He received 66,958 votes, 21,822 more than the second-placed candidate

Jack Dromey John Eugene Joseph Dromey (29 September 1948 – 7 January 2022) was a British politician and trade unionist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Erdington from 2010 until his death. A member of the Labour Party, he was depu ...

, who was widely perceived as the

Blairite In British politics, Blairism is the political ideology of Tony Blair, the former leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, and those that support him, known as Blairites. It entered the '' New Penguin English Dictio ...

candidate. He was considered to be a member of the so-called " Awkward Squad" of trade union leaders opposed to

New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...

policies that they perceived to be against the interests of working people. After his election he said in an interview with ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' newspaper: :"A priority for stronger unions in the workplace must be a repeal of the anti-union laws ... British employment laws make it easier and cheaper to sack workers than on the Continent. I will campaign to stop the scandal of British workers being the cannon fodder of Europe." He later served as one of the two Joint-General Secretaries of

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...

, which was formed after a merger between the TGWU and Amicus. He stepped down from this role in January 2011.

''The Sun'' newspaper

At the 2009

Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when the ...

, Woodley tore up a copy of ''The Sun'' newspaper as he made a speech. This was following the paper's announcement that they would be supporting the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

at the subsequent general election, having backed the winning Labour Party at the previous three elections. On tearing up the paper, he said: :"In Liverpool, we learnt a long time ago what to do ear the paper I suggest the rest of the country does the same thing." This was a reference to ''The Suns controversial reporting of the

Hillsborough Disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the ...

20 years earlier, which had caused widespread public outrage, particularly in Liverpool, as the disaster claimed the lives of 96

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

fans, who mostly lived in or near the city. Many people on

still refuse to buy the newspaper and a number of newsagents still refuse to stock it.

Personal life

Woodley is also the President of Football Conference North side

Vauxhall Motors F.C. Vauxhall Motors Football Club is a football club based in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Rivacre Park, known as the vanEupen Arena for sponsorship reasons. It was originally the works team ...

despite being a childhood supporter of

Everton FC Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has comp ...

. He lives in Ellesmere Port. He married Janet Timmis and they have a son (born September 1990).

References

External links

His website

TGWU biography

Video clips

News items

''Times'' article September 2008

''Observer'' article July 2000
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodley, Tony 1948 births Living people People from Ellesmere Port People from Wallasey Deputy general secretaries of the Transport and General Workers' Union General secretaries of the Transport and General Workers' Union Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress General Secretaries of Unite the Union Life peers created by Elizabeth II