TUC

He joined the TUC in 1969 and by 1977 was the head of the Organisation and Industrial Relations Department, and the Deputy General Secretary in 1987, leading to his election in 1993 as General Secretary.^[1]

ETUC

He was General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, based in Brussels, between 2003 and 2011.^[1]

Other interests

This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (April 2019)

Monks has also sat on numerous other bodies, including Acas from 1979 until 1995. In 2000, he agreed to chair the Co-operative Commission, reporting in 2001 with recommendations for the co-operative movement. He was also President of the British Airline Pilots Association. He was a non-executive director of Thompsons Solicitors between 2010 and 2019 and was a visiting professor at the University of Manchester. He is a vice – president of Justice for Colombia and of the Smith Institute, and President of the Involvement and Participation Association. Monks has honorary degrees from the universities of Nottingham, Salford, Manchester(UMIST), Cranfield, Cardiff, Southampton, Kingston and the Open University. He is also a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute.

House of Lords

He took his seat in the House of Lords on 11 October 2010, having been created a life peer on 26 July 2010 as Baron Monks, of Blackley in the County of Greater Manchester.^[2][3]

In August 2014, Monks was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.^[4]

He was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur (2014).^{[citation needed]}