Alan Ritchie is in the forefront of developments in the construction industry, both private and public.

He served his time as a joiner and joined UCATT at eighteen years of age, being elected by the affiliated trade union to the STUC as Chairman of the STUC Youth Advisory Committee, which he held until 26 years of age.

He has held various positions within UCATT – Shop Steward, Branch Secretary, Regional Organiser 1983 and was Scottish Regional Secretary 1991 and was re-elected in 1996. He was elected General Secretary in October 2004.

Alan was the Secretary of the Working Rule Agreement for the Private Sector of the Construction Industry for Scotland until his election as General Secretary.

He is a member of the Labour Party.

As General Secretary of UCATT he takes up the role as Operatives Secretary for the Working Rule Agreement covering hundreds of thousands of workers in the Private Sector of the Construction Industry. He has also taken over as the Operative Secretary for the Public Sector Agreement covering Craftsmen and he is on the TUC General Council. He is also a member of Health & Safety Committee for the Construction Industry ‘Coniac’, Board Member of B&CE Holiday Stamp Scheme and is Vice-Chair of CSCS . He is a Board Member of Constructing Better Health and is on Strategic Forum for Construction and the Strategic Forum Olympic Board. He is on the Board of the CITB Construction Skills, the Executive and Management Board of the European Federation of Building & Woodworkers (EFBWW) and the Executive Board of the Building Workers International (BWI).