 In 2013, Wright received an honorary doctorate in Administration from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.In 1973, Wright joined the European Commission as adviser to Commissioner George Thomson, as one of the first Britons to work for the Commission and Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (1974–80).From 1980 to 1988 he was the founding Director of the Commonwealth Trade Union Group (at that time called the Commonwealth Trade Union Council), which campaigned for human and labour rights, and Assistant Director at the Commonwealth Secretariat (198894) where he dealt with Commonwealth programmes for South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique.