My father, Dan Gallin, who has died aged 94, was an outstanding figure in the international trade union movement over many decades. As general secretary of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) from 1968 to 1997, Dan worked to build the organisation into a global force.
Under his leadership, the IUF underwent a significant expansion and organised the first international trade union campaign against a transnational company. Workers at the Coca-Cola company’s franchised bottler in Guatemala City seeking to form a union were being systematically murdered, and corporate headquarters were proving reluctant to address the matter.
