William Elger (1891 – 6 November 1946) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

trade union 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 ( ...

leader. Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Elger's father was Austrian, and his mother was Scottish. He relocated to

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and became a clerical worker. He became active with the

Edinburgh Trades Council {{Use British English, date=February 2017 The Edinburgh Trade Union Council brings together trade union branches in Edinburgh in Scotland. The first permanent trades council in Edinburgh appears to have been formed in 1853, one of the first in the ...

, serving as its president in 1921/22. In 1922, he was elected as

General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress The General Secretary of the STUC is the chief permanent officer of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, and a major figure in the trade union movement in the United Kingdom. The Secretary is responsible for the effective operation of the STUC and ...

(STUC).Ian MacDougall, ''Voices from home'', p.512 His focus was on increasing membership of the STUC, encouraging Scottish unions to merge into their UK-wide counterparts in order that the larger body would then affiliate. Although this approach was unpopular with Scottish

trades council A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or ...

s, which saw their influence reduced, it proved successful, with membership growing by more than a third during his secretaryship. Elger was also elected to

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council is the local government authority for the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, largely with the boundaries of the post-1975 City of Glasgow district of the S ...

, representing the Labour Party in Ruchill."New Secretary of Scots TUC", ''

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'', 28 January 1947 From 1940 to 1946, he additionally served as president of the Clerical and Administrative Workers' Union.Union Ancestors,
Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staffs
He died in office in 1946.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elger, William 1891 births 1946 deaths Councillors in Glasgow General Secretaries of the Scottish Trades Union Congress Scottish Labour councillors