Prospect’s Richard Hardy elected President of the STUC

Prospect’s Richard Hardy has been elected President of the STUC at their conference in Dundee.

Richard is Prospect’s National Secretary for Scotland and sits on the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Commission.

Born into a mining family in Yorkshire, Richard was the first person in his family to go to University where he read Modern History at Queen Mary College, University of London.

He then worked in IT for the Department of Social Security, becoming a full-time elected PCS rep in 1996.

In 2000 Richard joined Prospect precursor union IPMS as a Negotiations Officer, working in Liverpool, the Midlands and in London, before moving to Scotland in 2014 and becoming National Secretary in 2016. He joined the STUC General Council in 2017.

In his spare time Richard enjoys hill walking and wargaming where he has represented Scotland at international events.

Richard Hardy said:

“It is an honour and a privilege to be elected President of the STUC for the coming year.

“We are in a period of huge economic change and it is our job as trade unionists to ensure that workers are not left behind by that change. That means ensuring new industries deliver good unionised jobs, and that workers are not left behind by either new technology or the end of more traditional industry.

“It also means making sure that young people see the importance of being in a trade union so we can refresh our membership and bring through the next generation of activists.

“It is my hope that as STUC president I can help to make work fairer in Scotland, and set us on the path to a genuine Just Transition from high to low carbon industry.”