The influential heads of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Sally McManus and Michelle O’Neill have announced their resignations to “make way for a new generation”.
Ms McManus has been the body’s secretary since 2017 and Ms O’Neill has been its president since 2018.
Ms McManus will finish her job at the end of August and Ms O’Neill will leave before the end of the year to “assist with the leadership transition”.
Michelle O’Neill will retire before the end of the year. (ABC News: Tom Hancock)
According to the ACTU, a decision on whether to replace them has not yet been made.
“The ACTU trade unions will decide on the next leadership team, first by the ACTU chief executive to fill casual vacancies, and then through elections at Congress next year, which coincides with the ACTU’s 100th anniversary,” the statement said.
Ms McManus said now is the “right time” for new leaders to “take our movement forward”.
“I am proud of our movement’s achievements and it has been an honor to serve the trade union movement and workers as ACTU Secretary for nearly a decade,” she said.
The transport union was among the first to thank the outgoing leaders, noting their work in the fight for the COVID-era JobKeeper scheme and pushing Labor to create a Fair Work Court, plans for which it announced at the party conference last week.
In 2024, Ms McManus denied knowledge of the alleged infiltration of the Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Union (CMFEU).
She also oversaw the ACTU’s efforts to suspend the CFMEU while it cleaned up its act.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also thanked the couple for their “tireless advocacy” for workers, as well as their support for him personally.
“It is fitting that Sally and Michelle are announcing their departure from their roles at a time when there have been significant wage increases in critical and long-undervalued sectors, the gender pay gap is at an all-time low, and union membership is rising for the first time in decades,” he said in a statement.
“Personally, I will miss the friendship and support that these two giants of the labor movement have offered me over the years, but especially since I became Labor leader in 2019 and then Prime Minister in 2022.”