Vic Feather

Who was Vic Feather?

Victor Grayson Hardie Feather, Baron Feather, CBE was General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress in Great Britain from 1969 to 1973.

Feather was born in Idle, Bradford, Yorkshire in 1908, and was named after the recently-elected socialist MP Victor Grayson. He was educated at Hanson Grammar School in Bradford, Yorkshire. He began work at age 14 and joined the Shopworkers' Union. He was elected shop steward at age 15, and chairman of his branch committee at age 21. In 1937 he joined the staff of the Trades Union Congress. He became Assistant Secretary, Assistant General Secretary, and General Secretary. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1961 New Year's Honours.

As General Secretary, Feather led the British trade union movement's fight against Heath government's Industrial Relations Act 1971. After retirement from the TUC, he was President of the European Trade Union Confederation. He was created Baron Feather, of the City of Bradford, on 6 March 1974. Lord Feather died two years later in 1976.

With his blunt Yorkshire manner, he was something of a "character" in British public life. He was often imitated by Mike Yarwood. When he appeared on Parkinson he admitted to stealing sheep in the 1930s. He was the subject of an episode of This Is Your Life, first broadcast on 28 November 1973.