Norman Willis

Norman David Willis (21 January 1933 – 7 June 2014) was the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the United Kingdom from 1984 to 1993, and President of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) from 1991 to 1993.

He attended Ashford County Grammar School in Ashford, Middlesex, and studied at Ruskin College and Oriel College, Oxford.

He worked for the TGWU from 1949 to 1951, before two years' National Service.

The leadership of Norman Willis from 1984[1] coincided in the late 1980s with a period of considerable change for the Trade Union movement in the UK: union membership was falling; the movement was facing power-limiting legislation from the Conservative government; and the Labour Party was conducting a fundamental review of its policies and the nature of its links with the unions.

[2] He was a patron of the Embroiderers' Guild,[3] a British embroidery organisation, and former President of the Arthur Ransome Society (TARS).