Jean Ogor, a leading figure of the union movement

Born on 19 March 1881 in Tremenac’h, Plouguerneau, Jean grew up in a family of peasant seaweed harvesters. Orphaned at the age of 12, he devoted his whole life to the community of seaweed-harvesting fishermen, with relentless energy and an unshakeable will.

Helped and advised by Father Lebret, a priest from Saint-Malo and a figure in the union movement within the fishing world, Jean Ogor cycled the coasts of the Léon, from Carantec to Le Conquet, day and night, seeking to mobilise, organise and structure a community of seaweed-harvesting fishermen who, scattered and fiercely independent, were at the mercy of market forces.

Jean Ogor became president of the National Union of Seaweed Harvesters in 1937, and was soon after appointed president of the iodine and seaweed committee under the Ministry of the Merchant Navy. He held this position until his retirement in 1949. Dressed in his kabig and wearing his botoù Kerne, he made numerous trips to Paris to defend the interests of a profession he had done much to create and have recognised.

The profession paid him tribute in 1967 by giving his name to an experimental boat fitted with a hydraulic scoubidou.