You don’t need to look far for examples of women who just get shit done, but the dual-engine power of ACTU Secretary Sally McManus and President Michele O’Neil has been something else.
They’ve both announced they’ll be stepping down from their roles with the peak body for Australian unions, having spent almost a decade together representing workers across the country.
In their time, they achieved 47 new rights for Australians that have become law under the Albanese Government, and they’ve been instrumental in defeating attempts by the previous Coalition Government to reduce workers’ rights.
They have won landmark pay increases across aged care and early childhood education. They have won legal changes to protect gig economy workers, established fairer standards for labour hire and criminalised intentional wage theft. They have fought for stronger paid parental leave provisions and flexibility and secured universal access to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave across modern awards.
They have led through multiple prime ministers and opposition leaders, including Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and, as McManus put it in an interview with The Australian today, the threat of Peter Dutton. Later, they’ve been constructive in working with the Albanese Government on productive reforms for workers across the country.
They were instrumental in securing JobKeeper payments for workers who could not work during the pandemic and, more recently, in pushing Labour to announce last week plans to establish a Fair Work Court.
And they pushed back against the CFMEU, suspending the Victorian branch in 2024 following damning allegations of bullying and harassment and the infiltration of bikie gangs and criminal figures in the union. McManus stood up to the once-powerful Victorian secretary, John Setka, and said at the time she would “not flinch” in dealing with them.
McManus and O’Neil have highlighted what can be done with two women at the top who are truly committed to collaborating with others. Indeed, it’s telling that they have both announced their intentions to step down at the same time and to plan staggered leaving times to support the next generation of leadership. It’s fitting that they hope to “bring renewal” to the movement. And it’s fitting again that they have both ruled out a move into federal politics.
McManus will be leaving at the end of August, while O’Neil will stay on until the end of the year to support the leadership transition, with the next leaders expected to be selected in the coming weeks via ACTU union affiliates.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on the announcement that the two women are stepping down just as “there have been significant wage increases in critical and long-undervalued sectors.”
He noted the record low gender pay gap, as well as the fact that union membership is growing for the first time in decades.
“Personally, I will miss the friendship and support these two giants of the labour movement have offered me over many years, but especially since I became Labor leader in 2019 and then prime minister in 2022,” he said.
McManus said in a statement she’s proud of what the union has achieved. “It has been an honour to serve the union movement and working people as the secretary of the ACTU for nearly a decade,” she said.
She noted how she took on the role just as rights were under attack and workplace laws were in desperate need of fixing. She wanted to be part of turning those things around.
“Now I look forward to supporting new leaders stepping up. One of my favourite things has been meeting workplace union delegates in cities and towns across the country. They are the best people. Always looking out for others and bravely standing up for what’s right. They live our values of solidarity and fairness for all.”
O’Neil also expressed her pride at working for new worker rights that make a difference to people and their families.
“Every win we have achieved together has not been because of individuals but come as a result of workers standing together,” she said.
On being elected president, she said the challenge of rights being under attack, jobs and industries being lost, and insecure work being on the rise was clear. “Having an opportunity with our movement to campaign for and win change has been the honour of my life,” she said.
“Sally and I have decided to announce our decision together and to stagger our leaving times, I will stay for a period between now and the end of the year to support the transition to the new leadership team. We are lucky, our movement is full of passionate, skilled, committed people and now is the right time for renewal and for the movement to choose their next Secretary and President.”
The ACTU will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.