Victorian Trades Hall Council
Encyclopedia
The Victorian Trades Hall Council is a representative body of trade union
organisations, known as a Labour council
, in the State of Victoria
, Australia. It includes 60 affiliated Trade Unions and Professional Associations, and eight Victorian regional Trades and Labour Councils.
The eight regional Trades and Labour Councils of Victoria are Ballarat Regional, Bendigo
, Geelong and Region, Gippsland
, Goulburn Valley
, Mallee
Murray
, North-East and Border and South West.
Affiliation to the Council is open to any industrial organisation of employees with at least 20 financial members. Delegates from affiliated organisations are elected to meet as the Victorian Trades Hall Council. There is an annual conference to set policy, with monthly Council Meetings, and an Executive which meets more often to administer the affairs between council meetings, particularly matters of an urgent nature.
. The world's first workers parliament, Melbourne Trades Hall, was built on the site in 1859. It was built in the style of the parliament buildings which were just down the road, and over the years has been further developed. With increasing activity during the 1880s in the Australian labour movement
the committee became a Council to reflect its expanding role. The full title, Victorian Trades Hall Council was formally adopted in 1968.
In recent times, as well as being the centre for union activity, the Trades Hall Council has opened the Trades Hall building to many cultural events, plays, and concerts including the Melbourne Comedy Festival - concentrating on political and 'on the edge' performances. It was classified by the National Trust and is included in the Register of Historic Buildings (Victoria).
Some notable members of the Trades Hall Council from the 1880s include William Trenwith
and Chummy Fleming
, both from the Victorian Operative Bootmakers Union.
, President of the ACTU, signed an international labor declaration against the war on Iraq in February 2003 involving over 200 unions and 550 union leaders from 53 countries representing 130 million workers. The Victorian Trades Hall Council is an affiliate of the Victorian Peace Network (Vicpeace).
Victorian Trades Hall president Kevin Bracken sparked outrage on 20 October 2010 when he told Jon Faine's ABC talk-back program the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center were not the result of terrorist activity. He said the story was a conspiracy that "didn't stand up" to scientific scrutiny.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
organisations, known as a Labour council
Labour council
A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or state level...
, in the State of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia. It includes 60 affiliated Trade Unions and Professional Associations, and eight Victorian regional Trades and Labour Councils.
The eight regional Trades and Labour Councils of Victoria are Ballarat Regional, Bendigo
Bendigo, Victoria
Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...
, Geelong and Region, Gippsland
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
, Goulburn Valley
Goulburn Valley
The Goulburn Valley is a region of Victoria, Australia. The region consists of those areas in the catchment of the Goulburn River and other nearby streams, and is part of the Murray-Darling Basin. The Goulburn Valley is bordered on the south by the Great Dividing Range and to the north by the...
, Mallee
The Mallee
The Mallee is the most northwesterly district in the state of Victoria, and also encompasses the agricultural district of South Australia. Definitions vary, however all are based on the Victorian distribution of mallee eucalypts...
Murray
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
, North-East and Border and South West.
Affiliation to the Council is open to any industrial organisation of employees with at least 20 financial members. Delegates from affiliated organisations are elected to meet as the Victorian Trades Hall Council. There is an annual conference to set policy, with monthly Council Meetings, and an Executive which meets more often to administer the affairs between council meetings, particularly matters of an urgent nature.
Responsibilities
The Victorian Trades Hall Council is responsible for:- implementing Australian Council of Trade UnionsAustralian Council of Trade UnionsThe Australian Council of Trade Unions is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions.-History:The ACTU was formed in 1927 as the "Australian Council of Trade Unions"...
policy within Victoria. - co-ordinating union activities and campaigns, involving more than one union.
- providing assistance with research, negotiations and advocacy to affiliated organisations.
- lobbying State Parliament for social and industrial reforms.
- providing a public point of contact for general enquiries on Victorian unions.
- administering Melbourne Trades Hall, which provides offices and meeting rooms for the Council and Executive, as well as leasing space to affiliated unions and other activist and social change groups.
Secretaries of the Victorian Trades Hall Council
- Brian BoydBrian Boyd (unionist)Brian Boyd was elected secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council on 5 May 2005, succeeding Leigh Hubbard in this position, one of Australia's most powerful trade union roles. He is longstanding member of Birds Australia....
- 7 March 2005–present - Leigh HubbardLeigh HubbardLeigh Hubbard was secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council for 10 years from 1995 to 2005, one of the most powerful trade union positions in Australia...
- 1995-2005. - John HalfpennyJohn HalfpennyJohn Francis Halfpenny AM was an Australian unionist.-Biography:Halfpenny was born in Donald in Victoria and joined the Communist Party, travelling to Moscow in 1960 as head of the Eureka Youth League. A metal worker, he became an organiser for the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1969 and was...
- 1988-1995 - Albert Monk - 1934-1939
- Jack Holloway - 1916-1929
- William Emmett Murphy - 1877-1886 (oversaw the transformation of the Committee into the Melbourne Trades Hall Council)
History
In 1856 stonemasons in Melbourne won the eight hour day, one of the first occasions in the world where organised workers had achieved this without loss of pay. The same year Melbourne Trades Hall Committee was formed and received a grant of land to build a Trades HallTrades Hall
A Trades Hall is an English term for a building where trade unions meet together, or work from cooperatively, as a local representative organisation, known as a Labor Council or Trades Hall Council...
. The world's first workers parliament, Melbourne Trades Hall, was built on the site in 1859. It was built in the style of the parliament buildings which were just down the road, and over the years has been further developed. With increasing activity during the 1880s in the Australian labour movement
Australian labour movement
The Australian labour movement has its origins in the early 19th century and includes both trade unions and political activity. At its broadest, the movement can be defined as encompassing the industrial wing, the unions in Australia, and the political wing, the Australian Labor Party and minor...
the committee became a Council to reflect its expanding role. The full title, Victorian Trades Hall Council was formally adopted in 1968.
In recent times, as well as being the centre for union activity, the Trades Hall Council has opened the Trades Hall building to many cultural events, plays, and concerts including the Melbourne Comedy Festival - concentrating on political and 'on the edge' performances. It was classified by the National Trust and is included in the Register of Historic Buildings (Victoria).
Some notable members of the Trades Hall Council from the 1880s include William Trenwith
William Trenwith
William Arthur Trenwith was a pioneer trade union official and labour movement politician for Victoria, Australia.Born to convict parents at Launceston, Tasmania, he followed his father's trade as a bootmaker...
and Chummy Fleming
Chummy Fleming
John William 'Chummy' Fleming was a pioneer unionist, agitator for the unemployed, and anarchist in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
, both from the Victorian Operative Bootmakers Union.
Issues
Leigh Hubbard as Secretary of the VTHC, along with Sharan BurrowSharan Burrow
Sharan Burrow is the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation and a former President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions...
, President of the ACTU, signed an international labor declaration against the war on Iraq in February 2003 involving over 200 unions and 550 union leaders from 53 countries representing 130 million workers. The Victorian Trades Hall Council is an affiliate of the Victorian Peace Network (Vicpeace).
Victorian Trades Hall president Kevin Bracken sparked outrage on 20 October 2010 when he told Jon Faine's ABC talk-back program the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center were not the result of terrorist activity. He said the story was a conspiracy that "didn't stand up" to scientific scrutiny.