Ron Todd

Ronald Todd, (March 11 1927 – April 30 2005), was the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), the largest general trade union in the United Kingdom, from 1985 until 1992.

Todd was born in Walthamstow, London, and left school at the age of 14 to work in a barbers' shop. He also worked as an assistant to a plumber before being drafted into the Royal Marines in the last days of World War II. For a time he served alonside his father in the Marine corps. He carried out his national service with the marines in Hong Kong.

After completing his national service Todd worked in a Ford factory in Dagenham, before becoming an officer for the TGWU in 1962. He became the union's regional secretary for London, the Southeast and East Anglia in 1976, before being promoted to national organiser in 1978. After being elected as the union's general secretary in 1985, after a second ballot, he was also named as an honourary vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Todd earned a reputation for his commitment to human rights, he was a vocal opponent of apartheid in South Africa.