{"id":1120,"date":"2014-09-07T19:08:24","date_gmt":"2014-09-07T18:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2014-09-07T19:11:41","modified_gmt":"2014-09-07T18:11:41","slug":"unites-taj-led-front","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=1120","title":{"rendered":"Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Taj \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0098led from front\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>In a poignant speech to mark the end of his year-long term as TUC president, Unite member Mohammad Taj thanked congress and union leaders for their support \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but warned that the movement still had a fight on its hands.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Taj was the first Muslim, the first South Asian and in fact the first bus driver as TUC president.<\/p>\n<p>A very active president throughout his term, Taj often attended picket lines and spoke at demonstrations, and even with his presidency coming to a close, he implored delegates to prepare for\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe fight of our lives\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on the approach to next year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s general election.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The highlight of Taj\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech was his moving thanks to his wife of 41 years, Naseem, in which he recalled how they had rebelled against the tradition of arranged marriages when they had wed.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAfter 41 years, she knows we are still madly in love with each other,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd I want to thank her publicly for her help and encouragement. I know I would have not got to where I am today without her support.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Taj also gave thanks to Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s general secretary Len McCluskey and the union, and to the TUC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady who he described as an \u00e2\u20ac\u015binspiration and a tower of strength.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>TUC general council members Ged Nichols and Christine Blower both shared kind words and memories in tribute to Taj\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presidency.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Christine said Taj had \u00e2\u20ac\u015bled from the front with grace and good humour.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe pay tribute to the work you have done and offer sincere thanks,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a poignant speech to mark the end of his year-long term as TUC president, Unite member Mohammad Taj thanked congress and union leaders for their support \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but warned that the movement still had a fight on its hands. &nbsp; Taj was the first Muslim, the first South Asian and in fact the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[85],"wps_subtitle":"TUC president speaks out","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1129,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions\/1129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}