Sally McManus, head of the Australian trade unions, will step down on August 31
Sally McManus, secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), will step down on August 31 after nine and a half years in the role. She will be succeeded by Melissa Donnelly, who is currently the national secretary of the Public and Community Services Union.
McManus has worked as a union official for 33 years, 22 of which were in leadership roles. She told The Guardian that she wants to take a break after a long career in the labor movement. McManus announced her resignation last month alongside ACTU President Michelle O’Neill. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called them “giants of the labor movement.”
Together with O’Neill, McManus led campaigns for “equal pay for equal work,” the right of workers not to respond to work-related messages outside of working hours, the criminalization of wage theft, and minimum standards for pay, insurance, and safety for workers in the gig economy.
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Among her key achievements, McManus cited wage increases for low-wage workers, support for women and children affected by domestic violence, and the strengthening of early childhood education and elder care. Her tenure spanned the administrations of Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, and Anthony Albanese, as well as the economic upheavals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
McManus said that after being elected to office in March 2017, she received death threats and faced abuse both online and offline. She also cited the development of artificial intelligence as a risk to workers’ rights and suggested that a four-day workweek without a pay cut could become a reality in Australia in the future.
Following her resignation, the 55-year-old McManus plans to go birdwatching and undergo surgery to have a cochlear implant fitted due to hearing loss.
