Victor Feather, Baron Feather

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Feather (right) with Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eschkol , 1965

Victor "Vic" Grayson Hardie (Hardy) Feather, Baron Feather CBE (* 10. April 1908 in Gainsborough , Lincolnshire , † 28. July 1976 in London ) one was British union functionary , among others, from 1969 to 1973 General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the governing body of British trade unions, was a member of the House of Lords as well as 1974 when Life Peer became a member of the House of Lords under the Life Peerages Act 1958 .

Life

Feather, who was named by his parents after the politician Victor Grayson elected to the House of Commons for the Independent Labor Party (ILP) in the Colne Valley constituency in 1907 , began a career at the age of fourteen after attending the Hanson Grammar School in Bradford in 1922 and shortly thereafter joined the Shopworkers' Union , the union of retail workers. As early as 1923 he became the shop steward of his union and in 1929 chairman of the branch committee of the Shopworkers' Union.

In 1937 Feather was employed in the central administration of the trade union umbrella organization TUC, where he initially acted as assistant secretary between 1947 and 1960, before he succeeded George Woodcock as vice-general secretary of the Trades Union Congress in 1960 . For his services within the labor movement, he was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1961 .

After Woodcock resigned after nine years as General Secretary of the TUC in 1969, Feather succeeded him and held the position of General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress until 1973. In this capacity he organized the resistance within the trade union movement against the passage of the Industrial Relations Act 1971 by the government of Prime Minister Edward Heath . During this time he made several documentaries about British politics during the upheaval from the Labor Party government under Prime Minister Harold Wilson to the Conservative Party government under Prime Minister Heath after the general election of June 18, 1970 .

In 1973 he was replaced as General Secretary of the TUC by Len Murray , who had succeeded him in 1969 as Vice General Secretary. Feather himself then became the first chairman of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which was founded on February 9, 1973, but passed this function on to Heinz Oskar Vetter , who was previously one of the three vice-presidents of the ETUC, a year later .

Feather became a life peer with the title Baron Feather , of the City of Bradford, through a letters patent dated March 6, 1974 , in the House of Lords, to which he belonged until his death.

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personal data
SURNAME Feather, Victor, Baron Feather
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Feather, Victor Grayson Hardie, Baron Feather (full name); Vic Feather (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British union official
DATE OF BIRTH April 10, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Gainsborough , Lincolnshire
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1976
Place of death London