Bob Willis (trade unionist)

Robert Willis (27 February 1904[1] – 20 September 1982), usually known as Bob Willis, was a British trade unionist.

Willis worked as a printer, then as a compositor with Reynolds News, and joined the London Society of Compositors in 1930.[2][3] A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain in his youth, he left in the early 1930s, describing it as an "intellectual straitjacket".[4] 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 in 1947, serving until 1965, and became the President of the Trades Union Congress in 1959.[5] From 1952, he also served as Chairman of the London Trades Council.[2]

Under Willis' leadership, the London Society of Compositors merged with the Printing Machine Managers' Trade Society to form the "London Typographical Society". He became known as a strong speaker with forceful views.[2] In 1964, Willis led the Compositors into a merger with the Typographical Association to form the National Graphical Association, of which he served as joint general secretary until 1969.[5][6] He took a leave of absence from 1965 to 1967 to serve on the National Board for Prices and Incomes.[5]

References

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  1. ^ 1939 England and Wales Register
  2. ^ a b c The Labour Gazette (1958), p.1387
  3. ^ Newspaper World, Nos.2452-2477, p.ii
  4. ^ Transport Salaried Staff Journal, vols.54-55, p.420
  5. ^ a b c Report of the Annual Trades Union Congress (1982), p.338
  6. ^ Arthur Ivor Marsh and Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Vol. 5, p.43
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Trade union offices
Preceded by Secretary of the London Trades Council
1938–1945
Succeeded by
Julius Jacobs
Preceded by
New position
Chairman of the London Trades Council (1952)
1953–1959
Succeeded by
Jock Halliday
Preceded by President of the Trades Union Congress
1959
Succeeded by
Preceded by General Secretary of the London Society of Compositors
1945–1964
With: Percy Astins (1955)
Succeeded by
Position abolished
Preceded by Printing and Paper Group representative on the General Council of the TUC
1947 – 1965
Succeeded by
Preceded by
New position
General Secretary of the National Graphical Association
1964–1969
With: John Bonfield
Succeeded by