Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “It is with great sadness that we hear of the loss of our former general secretary Garfield, our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

“I was first appointed to Usdaw’s staff by Garfield. He was an energetic and enthusiastic trade union leader who steered Usdaw through some very difficult times, countering the anti-trade union fervour of the Thatcher Government.

“He was a great Labour man and played a key role in modernising the Party and securing a landslide victory in 1997 after 18 long years of opposition. Garfield always put our members at the forefront of everything he did and he took that into the House of Lords where he robustly defended workers’ rights.

“We shall miss Garfield, he was a great servant of Usdaw, the Labour Party and the wider Movement. May he rest in peace.”

Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with over 420,000 members. Membership has increased by more than one-third over the last couple of decades. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion