Ron Todd (trade unionist)
Ronald Todd (11 March 1927 – 30 April 2005) was an English Trade union leader who served as the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union (which is now Unite the Union) from 1985 until 1992. He was a member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress, served as the Chair of the (TUC) International Committee, a member of the National Economic Development Council and president of the Trade Union Unity Trust and was an honorary vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He was a committed Internationalist, a relentless campaigner for Nuclear disarmament and an active campaigner in the Anti-Apartheid Movement, who counted Nelson Mandela as a close friend. He was one of the most respected union officials of his generation and led the biggest trade union in the country during most of the Margaret Thatcher years, a period that could be counted as one of the most difficult ones for the trade union movement in the 20th century. Early life Born in Walthamstow, London, Ron was the fifth child of Emily (née Pauline) and George Thomas Todd. His father was a stallholder in a local street market and his mother was a pianist who