“As GMB members, colleagues and most of all friends, we were all saddened to learn recently of the passing of our beloved National President Mary Turner. She slipped away peacefully with her loving family around her and joins her much loved husband Denny who she lost not so long ago.
All the usual plaudits reserved for the titans of our movement are rolled out for Mary, and quite rightly so, she was a giant of the trade union movement, a leader, an inspiration and someone who paved the way not only for women in the workplace but for all working people everywhere. She fought tirelessly for the values and principles she held so dear and was nothing short of a warrior always battling for social justice and equality with a passion and tenacity that set her apart from many others around her.
Mary was considered a formidable opponent by employers and governments alike, but she also had the biggest and warmest heart in the trade union movement. From Prime Ministers to Caretakers and from the school kitchen to the boardroom Mary had a smile as wide as the ocean for everyone she met and could charm the birds from the trees. It was this charm coupled with her dogged determination and tenacity that led to her numerous successful campaigns over the years.
Mary was born in Tipperary and moved to Kilburn in North London with her family when she was 12. From the day she started work at the age of 16 she was a trade unionist, first joining the Tailor and Garment Workers Union at Jackson’s Tailors on London’s Oxford Street and then as a mother of the chapel with SOGAT when she went to work in the print industry.
But it was when she returned to work in 1970 after having her children that Mary began to make her mark. She became a dinner lady in Brent and quickly began organising the female workers who were poorly paid, untrained and badly treated. She became known as ‘The Marigold Girl’ to friends and colleagues as she fought for rubber gloves for the other ‘Dinner Ladies’ who had to wash pans and hot ovens with steel wool.
It was as a ‘Dinner Lady’ that Mary developed a lifelong passion that she would campaign on for decades to come – free school meals. Having seen hungry children too embarrassed to suffer the stigma of queuing up with dinner tickets Mary got one of the metal workers to make some metal discs that looked like money so the children could use them instead. Mary later ensured that free school meals became Labour party policy.
After becoming the only woman on an all-male executive Mary was told she would be gone in 2 years. Well she didn’t go anywhere and after rising through the ranks she was elected GMB National President in 1997 and represented the GMB on the National Executive Committee of the Labour party.
Always at the front, fighting and leading, recruiting and supporting thousands of low paid workers, Mary has led our movement.and received an MBE and a CBE in recognition of her lifetime’s work for trade union members throughout the UK.
Mary was a great friend of our region and always supported our annual womens conferences. Not only will she leave a massive void in our union, but she will be missed by all who knew and loved her. She was without any shadow of a doubt one of the most exceptional and outstanding trade unionists of her generation.
God bless Mary and rest in peace”.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE ANY THOUGHTS OR MEMORIES YOU MAY HAVE HERE SO THAT THE HUGE OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT ACROSS SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE MOVEMENT CAN BE CAPTURED AND TURNED INTO SOMETHING NICE FOR THE FAMILY IN DUE COURSE:
https://communications165.wixsite.com/ourmary/about-mary
