BAKERS’ leader Sarah Woolley will serve a second term as General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) president.

Ms Woolley was elected to lead during a transition period as the federation voted at its biennial conference to move to having two serving presidents and vice-presidents, with at least one a woman in each post.

Claire Jones of the Society of Union Employees and John McGowan of the Social Workers Union will serve the next two years as vice-presidents.

Ms Jones praised the fact that the GFTU executive had set up a network of women leaders among affiliated unions, as part of measures to challenge the disadvantage faced by women because of their historic underrepresentation in trade union structures.

One focus of the group will be “capturing the stories of women in the trade union movement” so the male bias in trade union “his-story” would be enriched by “her-story,” and popular understanding of labour movement history can become “our story.”