IEU backs new ACTU Secretary
IEU Victoria Tasmania General Secretary David Brear has welcomed the appointment of Melissa Donnelly as the new ACTU Secretary.
“Melissa is an experienced and successful leader who has the skills and personal resolve to guide our national union body,” David says.
“Melissa’s background will resonate with IEU members. She’s grown a union in a female-dominated sector, and her appointment reflects the realities of the Australian union movement, which increasingly represents professional workers in education, care and public services.”
Federal IEU Secretary Brad Hayes says the future of the ACTU “is in strong hands” following Melissa’s appointment.
“A fiercely determined and highly experienced union leader, Mel will take up the ACTU Secretary position unopposed after seven years leading the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU).
“A qualified lawyer, political campaigner and member-driven union leader, Mel has overseen a sustained period of growth in CPSU membership and collective bargaining success. Under her leadership, the CPSU has become one of the nation’s largest and most active unions.
“Our national union looks forward to continuing its strong contribution to the ACTU and working closely with Mel as she begins her term.”
Melissa, 44, will be one of the youngest-ever ACTU Secretaries.
She said, “It is a tremendous honour to have the support of the union movement as I take on this important role.
“Following in the footsteps of Sally [McManus] is no easy task. She has dedicated her life to fighting for fairer, safer and more secure workplaces.
“I am eager to get to work delivering real outcomes for working people and advancing the interests of workers across the country.
“Most of all, I am looking forward to meeting union members from every corner of Australia and serving alongside you as we work to lift living standards and secure a better future for all.”
Outgoing ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said Melissa’s election “represents generational change”.
“The average union member is a 44-year-old working mother and so is Melissa.
“With two school-aged children and having led a large union, she well knows the pressures working people are under.”
Donnelly was 38 when she became the CPSU’s youngest-ever leader and its first working mother in 2019.
She joined the CPSU as a young lawyer and campaigned against the Howard Government’s Work Choices laws. She later led its national political, industrial, research and legal teams before joining the CPSU executive in 2015.
She will be the first ACTU Secretary from a public sector union since those unions affiliated with the national body in the 1980s.