Tributes have been paid to former UCW general secretary Alan Tuffin who passed away on Friday November 10 at the age of 85.
Alan first joined the Post Office as a telegraph messenger boy in London in 1950 and worked as a Postal and Telegraph Officer on post office counters after a short time as a Postman. Apart from National Service in the Royal Airforce he spent his whole working life in the Post Office and with the union.
Alan was elected to the Executive Council of the UPW (as it then was) in 1966 and became a full-time officer of the union in 1969. He was elected as deputy general secretary in 1979 and then as general secretary of the UCW in 1982.
Alan retired in 1993 having made a huge contribution over many years to the UCW, its predecessor unions and to the wider trade union movement,” recalls CWU general secretary Dave Ward.
“He was a highly-respected trade unionist of conviction and I know that he will be greatly missed by his friends and colleagues in the union and wider labour movement.
“At this sad time our thoughts are of course with Alan’s wife Jean and their family.”
