Tributes to Dan Gallin have poured into the IUF. Dan passed away on May 31, 2025. His funeral took place in Geneva on June 6. A memorial event to celebrate his life and enormous contribution to the global labour movement will be held later in the year.
Condolences and memories about Dan can be sent [email protected]
Amongst the many tributes are several from IUF staff who worked alongside Dan for many years.
Speaking at Dan’s funeral Barbro Budin, IUF’s former Gender/Equality and Projects Coordinator said “You were one of those who marked an era and who continue to give strength and inspiration to all those who organize against all forms of exploitation and repression. Few trade union leaders have the experience and vast cultural and political knowledge that you had and that you put entirely at the service of the workers’ movement.” Her full tribute is here (also available in the original French).
Writing in the Global Labour Column, Peter Rossman, IUF’s former Communication and Campaigns officer noted “Under his leadership, the IUF developed into a combative, forward-looking organisation – a global solidarity network with a growing membership and growing ambition. Vigorous new regional organisations in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, many of whose members were fighting for their very existence against repressive governments, were one pillar of this growth. Another was the commitment to building union strength inside the transnational corporations which were increasingly driving the global economy and the IUF sectors. Most importantly, the IUF provided a strategic orientation beyond the purely reactive.”
Former IUF Asia/Pacific Regional Secretary Ma Wei Pin wrote “Starting in Jan 1974, we travelled together far and wide in the Asia/Pacific to build the IUF regional organisation (a first among sister organisations); your brilliant vision to undertake this arduous but critical task is unquestionably prescient today.
Standing strong and firm in defence of human rights and their universality in Asia/Pacific in the seventies when this was under sustained attack by authoritarian governments who dismissed this as a non-Asian value, the region saw and admired your passionate and courageous leadership vindicated.“
To follow – tributes from others who knew Dan and from organizations that he inspired.
