New Community President and Vice-President

The February meeting of Community’s governing NEC saw the announcement of the union’s new President Andrew Gutteridge and new Vice-President Deborah Wood, both pictured above with General Secretary Roy Rickhuss.

New Community President Andrew Gutteridge – better-known to his friends and colleagues as Reggie – previously served as the union’s Vice-President from 2024-2026, having first been elected to the NEC in 2018. A proud steelworker and Community rep, Andrew chairs the Multi-Union Committee at Tata’s Llanwern Steelworks in Newport where he has worked over the course of three decades. Andrew is also an Armed Forces veteran, and previously led Community’s campaign on ending veteran homelessness, speaking on the issue at Labour Party Conference. He also owns a popular pub in the Gwent Valleys.

Our new Vice-President Deborah Wood has been a member of our union for 30 years, working in the AA’s B2B sector for a decade before becoming a full-time rep, a role she has now undertaken for nearly 20 years. Deborah first became an IDU workplace rep back in 2005 whilst assisting a colleague in a case, which inspired her to want to do more to help her colleagues wherever she could. Deborah went on to become a full-time rep looking after the Oldbury AA branch in her native Black Country. In her current role as a full-time rep, Deborah manages the AA’s contact centres nationwide, helping branch secretaries to build up their branches and recruit new members, whilst negotiating policies and pay awards at a national level.