George Middleton (trade unionist)

{{Short description|Scottish trade union leader}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}

George Walker Middleton CBE (4 April 1898 – 8 August 1971) was a Scottish trade union leader.

Middleton grew up in Glasgow and attended Keppochhill School before becoming active in the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers."[http://ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U157538 MIDDLETON, George Walker]", Who Was Who He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), becoming the party's Glasgow District Organiser,Nigel West, Mask: MI5's Penetration of the Communist Party of Great Britain, p.10 and stood unsuccessfully in Glasgow St Rollox at the 1929 general election. That year, he was a key leader of the Glasgow Hunger March.Ian MacDougall, Voices from Work and Home, p.509

Middleton served as secretary of the Glasgow Trades Council from 1942 until 1949, then in 1949 was elected as General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), serving until 1963. In retirement, he chaired the Herring Industry Board and served as vice-chair of the Economic Planning Council for Scotland.

In 1953, Middleton was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.