Grahame Smith


Grahame Smith is a Scottish former trade unionist, who served as General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

Education

Smith attended Bishopbriggs High School, which merged into Bishopbriggs Academy, between 1971-77. He is a graduate of Strathclyde University, where he obtained an Honours Degree in Economics and Industrial Relations.

Career

Smith joined the STUC in 1986 as an Assistant Secretary with responsibility for Health and Social Services and Education and Training matters. He was appointed as the STUC’s Deputy General Secretary in 1996. In that role he headed the STUC's Policy and Campaigns Department and had specific responsibility for the STUC’s work on lifelong learning and public services. In December 2006 he was appointed as the General Secretary of the STUC, succeeding Bill Spiers, who had been suspended from the organisation since September 2005.
Smith led the establishment of the STUC Lifelong Learning Unit; the STUC Skills & Lifelong Learning Team and the Ministerial Trade Union Working Party on Lifelong Learning, of which he is a member. In December 2007 he was appointed as a Commissioner for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. He is a member of the Scottish Union Learning Board. Smith is a member of the joint Skills Development Scotland / Scottish Funding Council Skills Committee. In December 2008 he joined the Board of Scottish Enterprise. In December 2011 he became Chairperson of Scotland Europa.
In 2012, Smith became a member of PILOT, the UK Government’s group for the oil and gas industry and of the Scottish Oil and Gas Industry Leadership Group. In January 2013, he became a member of the Scottish Government’s Commission on the Development of Scotland’s Young Workforce, Chaired by Sir Iain Wood.
He is a member of the National Workforce Plus Partnership Board, the Board of SCDI, and the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council. He is the Vice Chairperson of Glasgow North Ltd, has served as a member of the Careers Service Review Committee, and was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group on the Review of the Enterprise Network.