Ex-trade union leader George Wright dies aged 89

Former senior Welsh trade unionist George Wright has died at the age of 89.

Wright was a key figure in setting up the Wales TUC, the umbrella body for Welsh unions, in the 1970s, later saying it was "the first act of Welsh devolution".

He led calls that resulted in the creation of the Welsh Development Agency (WDA), to encourage business development and investment in Wales at a time when traditional heavy industries were declining.

Former leader of the Unite union Andy Richards said Wright was "an icon" for trade unionists while ex-Labour cabinet minister Lord Peter Hain called him a "giant of the Welsh trade union movement".

Originally from Birmingham, George Wright became a trade union official at the British Leyland Longbridge car plant before moving ranks through the Transport and General Workers Union (now Unite) and being promoted to be the union's regional secretary for Wales in 1972.

Based at Transport House, just off Cardiff city centre, he set about bringing together several trade union committees to establish a unifying trade union body in Wales.

He faced opposition from within the union movement outside Wales but successfully set up the Wales TUC in 1974, becoming its first general secretary.

Wright was an early advocate of devolution, campaigning in the 1979 poll, when Wales said "no", and in 1997, when the result was "yes".

Wright said later: "I'm a firm believer that the creation of the Wales TUC was the first act of devolution in Wales. We put Wales on the map."

Andy Richards, former leader of the Unite union in Wales, said Wright was "an icon of the trade union movement and one of the key figures in creating a Welsh identity for movement in Wales".

"As a young trade unionist myself in the 1970s, I was so in awe of this man who would come to our meetings and always speak to us in Welsh a bit - and he was from Birmingham – and create an incredible buzz by saying that we should have our own union structures made and designed in Wales.

"You would think he was a Welshman – he was pushing Welsh identity all the time.

"George was the prime mover in setting up the Wales TUC and was ed by thousands of working in engineering, the steel industry, the coal mines and car manufacturing across the country."

Richards explained that Wright was also a strong er of inward investment and worked with the former Labour prime minister, Jim Callaghan, and the WDA to bring the Ford car plant to Bridgend.

"George Wright had a ion for the Welsh Development Agency and you cannot under-estimate the benefit that the WDA brought to Wales and the Welsh economy in the 1970s and 80s – and George played a major role in that."

Created in 1976, the WDA was scrapped 30 years later with its functions absorbed into the Welsh government.

Former Labour UK government cabinet minister Lord Hain also paid tribute.

"He was a giant of the Welsh trade union movement in its heyday.

"I'll always be grateful for his when I sought to be the Neath Labour Parliamentary candidate in 1990, even though he was on the right of the labour movement and I was on the left."

George Wright is survived by his wife Margaret, daughter Jackie, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.