John Hannett is the General Secretary of the UK’s fifth biggest union, Usdaw. He was elected General Secretary of the 340,000 strong union in May 2004.

He was elected Deputy General Secretary in August 1997, with responsibility for recruitment and organising, prior to this he was a National Officer based at the Union’s head office in Manchester.

John has been a member of the Labour Party for more than 20 years and served on the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party from 1998 to September 2005. He sat on the government commission on Women and Work which submitted its report in March 2006. He is a Co-convenor of the Trade and Industry Commission as well as a member of the Finance Committee. He also sits on the TUC General Council and is a member of the Co-operative Action Group.

Mr Hannett, a 52-year-old father of two, has been a member of the union since he was 17 and was a shop steward and branch secretary at Guinness Exports in Liverpool, before becoming a full-time organiser in Manchester.