Michele O'Neil is an Australian

trade unionist A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

and president of the

Australian Council of Trade Unions The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated trade union, unions and eight t ...

(ACTU) since 2018.

Union career

O'Neil was previously the branch and national secretary of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA).

Union movement

In 2004, she told union members to consider cutting ties with the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP) over tariff cuts in the clothing, footwear and textiles industries. O'Neil spoke in favour of scrapping boat turn-backs in 2015 when a delegate at the Labor party conference. In 2018, O'Neil was elected president of the ACTU.

Personal life

Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, O’Neil is the youngest of five daughters. Her mother left school at 13 to work in a

tannery Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Historically, vegetable based tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound derived fr ...

in Melbourne and worked as a waitress, and in various other casual jobs while raising five daughters. O'Neil's father served in the

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, before serving as a public servant and briefly as an

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) administrator.

References

Australian council of Trade Unions Elected Officers
Australian Council of Trade Unions people Living people Trade unionists from Melbourne Year of birth missing (living people) {{Australia-bio-stub