Serwotka was adopted by a Polish-born father and a Welsh mother and brought up in Aberdare.^[2]

In 1979, aged sixteen, he joined the Civil Service as a benefits clerk, joining the union on his first day.^[3] He became a union representative in 1980 and a personal case officer in 1995.^[4]

In the 2000 election for General Secretary, he faced two rivals: Hugh Lanning of the Membership First faction and the incumbent Barry Reamsbottom of the National Moderate Group.^[5] However, Reamsbottom did not secure the fifty branch nominations needed to appear on the ballot paper. Serwotka then beat Lanning with 41,000 to 33,000 votes.^[6] Following Serwotka's election, Reamsbottom refused to step down when his term of office expired, citing what he claimed were legal irregularities in the election process.^[7] The dispute was taken to the High Court where Serwotka won and subsequently assumed office.^[8][9]

In 2005, Serwotka was elected unopposed for another term as General Secretary as he was the only candidate with the required 25 branch nominations. In 2009, Serwotka was re-elected for a five-year term, with 37,866 votes to Rob Bryson's 21,883.^[10] In 2014, he was elected unopposed for a fourth five-year term.^[11]

In the 2000 General Secretary election, Serwotka pledged that if elected he would only accept the equivalent of an average civil servant's wage. Serwotka returns around £8,000 of his annual salary to the union.^[2]

Serwotka was elected President of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for 2019, a prominent but largely honorary position.^[12]

Serwotka was a member of Socialist Organiser in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was later a supporter of the Socialist Alliance and then Respect.^[13]

In February 2013, he was among those who gave their support to the People's Assembly in a letter published by The Guardian newspaper.^[14]

He attempted to vote in the 2015 Labour Leadership Election, but was among those who had their vote rejected by the party.^[15] In March 2016, he rejoined the Labour Party after being expelled from it over 25 years earlier.^[16] He wrote in The Huffington Post: "Jeremy [Corbyn] is the first Labour leader in a generation who unequivocally supports the unions and his opposition to the trade union bill has been crucial." He added "I have joined to support Jeremy in transforming the party. And I want as many people as possible to join Labour, and to get involved in the fight against cuts where they live. This is our chance to build a social movement and form a government that can offer hope to the millions of people that deserve so much better than these contemptible Tories."^[17]

Serwotka is married to Ruth Serwotka,^[18] co-founder of the organisation Woman's Place UK, a gender-critical advocacy group that is opposed to gender self-identification for trans people in the UK.^[19]

In September 2010, Serwotka was named as one of the hundred most influential British Catholics by The Tablet.^[20]

In 2013 he was fitted with a battery-powered ventricular assist device after picking up a viral infection from the family dog.^[21] He was readmitted to hospital on 30 August 2016, when the ventricular assist device developed a clot and his doctors then placed him on the urgent transplant list. In December 2016 he had a heart transplant at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire.^[22]

• PCS Press release on the court case
• Labournet on the dispute
• Article from the New Statesman
• Mark Serwotka on HARDtalk (Video) – Part 1 18.08.2008
• Mark Serwotka on HARDtalk (Video) – Part 2 18.08.2008
• BBC Radio 4: Profile: Mark Serwotka (podcast mp3 file)