Liz Snape, assistant general secretary of UNISON, has today (Wednesday) been elected as the next president of the TUC.
She was elected at this morning’s General Council on the final day of the 147thCongress and takes over from Leslie Manasseh. She will serve in the role for a year, until the 148th Congress in Brighton in 2016.
Ms Snape was born and grew up in Liverpool and is proud of her working class background, which she says continues to shape her values.
Her trade union activism began in 1989, firstly as a student union president in Liverpool and an NUS activist.
She joined the National Association of Local Government Officers (NALGO, now part of UNISON) as a legal officer. She then worked on equal opportunities and European policy before becoming UNISON’s director of policy and political affairs in 2006.
In 2012 she was appointed as one of UNISON’s three women assistant general secretaries overseeing the union’s communications and political and campaigning work.
She has served on the ‘Women at Work Commission’ and the Health and Safety Executive and has been a champion for both women’s rights and health and safety.
Commenting on her election as TUC president, she said: “I am honoured to be elected to serve Britain’s trade union movement as president of the TUC.
“During my year as president my first priority will be to defend the rights of trade unions and working people, which are under the biggest attack in a generation from the government’s Trade Union Bill. I look forward to working with all the trade unions in our movement to defeat it.
“I will also stand up for the livelihoods of working people. It has never been more crucial for the TUC to continue to lead the fight against austerity and poverty pay. We must defend our public services, fight off pay freezes that lock public servants out of a fair share of growth, and protect the tax credits and benefits that are essential to low-paid workers and those unable to work.”
