Hadja Rabiatou Serah Diallo led the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG) as its General Secretary, becoming the first woman on the continent to do so. She passed away at the age of 73, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, June 28th, in Conakry.
The Guinean activist from the crossroads town of Mamou, in Fouta Djalon, began her activism in the associative world. First, in youth movements and then in women’s associations, before moving towards the trade union world, largely dominated by men.
She was in her twenties when she joined the National Confederation of Workers of Guinea, the former single union founded in 1958 under President Sékou Touré. For thirty years, she rose through the ranks one by one until her election in 2000 as general secretary of the CNTG. She thus becomes the first African to head a major trade union.