In Memory: Stefan Nedzynski
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Stefan Nedzynski, former General Secretary of the Postal, Telegraph, Telephone International, PTTI, one of the organisations which merged in 2000 to form today's UNI died on 8th January, 2008 at the age of 87.
Stefan was a major figure in the international trade union movement.
Born in Poland in 1919 , he found himself in a Russian labour camp for some 18 months before eventually being able to travel to the west and join the free polish forces in the fight against fascism. After serving throughout the world war he opted to stay in the UK rather than go back to communist controlled Poland. As a result he spent many years travelling the world on behalf of the international trade union movement on a United Nations travel document!
He worked as a researcher for the Post Office Engineering Union in the UK and then moved to Brussels to become an Assistant General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions ICFTU. In 1965. He became the first full time General Secretary of the PTTI and turned it into a formidable international organisation and remained in post for 24 years
Stefan was the longest serving chair and coordinator of the International Trade Secretariats (since renamed the GUFs) until his retirement from PTTI in 1989. He was deeply committed to the principles of democratic trade unionism and throughout his career opposed both fascist and communist attempt to control workers. He was deeply involved in the development of Solidarnosc in his native Poland as a force which actively helped to end the Cold War. He also made major contributions to the campaigns to overthrow the dictatorships in Chile, apartheid in South Africa. Once the communist system had crumbled in Yugoslavia after Tito's death, he led the first international trade union mission to the emerging states of the Balkan region, together with David Cockroft of the ITF. "I spent a week with Stefan travelling by train from what was then still (just) the Slovenian republic of Federal Yugoslavia, through Croatia and into Serbia." says Cockroft. "Wherever we went he had a fund of stories to tell about the crucial role of strong independent unions in building a democratic society. We met a lot of people who are now leading figures in the trade union movement in the former Yugoslav republics, one of which (Slovenia) is now a member of the EU, something which we could scarcely have imagined at the time. He was a great trade unionist and a good friend who contributed a lot to laying the foundations of what we call today Global Unions. He will be sorely missed "
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