ACTU secretary Sally McManus and union’s president Michele O’Neil resign

ACTU secretary Sally McManus and ACTU president Michele O’Neil have announced their resignations, signalling the end of eight years of leadership together as the union’s first all-female leadership team.

Ms McManus and Ms O’Neil, who worked alongside each other for eight years, said in their surprise resignation that they took pride in the 47 new union and workers’ rights that had been introduced to Australia during the Albanese government since 2022.

Their leadership stint also included a marked uptick in union membership.

It is believed Australian Education Union president Correna Haythorpe, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Steve Murphy, and Public Sector Union national secretary Melissa Donnelly are among the frontrunners to replace Ms McManus and Ms O’Neil.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the pair, describing them as “giants of the labour movement” whose “incredible success” had translated into a better environment for worker’s rights.

“Working families are in a stronger financial position today than they would otherwise be because of the tireless advocacy and strong leadership of Sally McManus and Michele O’Neil,” Mr Albanese said.

“Sally and Michele secured incredible successes for working people in their eight years together leading Australia’s union movement – the first all-female leadership team in the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ 99-year history.

“It is fitting that Sally and Michele announce they’re stepping down from their respective positions at a time when there have been significant wage increases in critical and long-undervalued sectors, the gender pay gap is at a record low and union membership is growing for the first time in decades.”

Both Ms McManus and Ms O’Neil have ruled out stints in federal politics.

In an interview with The Australian, Ms McManus said she was “proud” of the union’s achievements under her leadership and that it had been an “absolute privilege representing working people”.

“It has been an honour to serve the union movement and working people as the secretary of the ACTU for nearly a decade,” Ms McManus said.

“This is the right time to make way for new leadership to take our movement forward and to face new challenges.

“When I took on this role, workers’ rights were under attack and workplace laws desperately needed fixing. I wanted to be part of turning that around. Unions are now growing and workers have extensive new rights that they can use to begin winning the pay rises and fairness at work they deserve.”

Although avoiding the controversial topic of John Setka — the controversial former CFMEU Victorian secretary who has faced a swathe of legal issues and allegations of violence and corruption — Ms McManus was hard-set in the challenge of dealing with his fallout.

“I don’t want to comment about John Setka. I would just say our union movement, and it’s not just me and it’s not just Michele, it’s like every single leader has stood firm and said ‘No, we’re not having violence and we’re not having corruption in our movement’,” she said.

“That wasn’t an easy thing to do. Once we had drawn that line, we absolutely stuck to it and we intend to stick to it. And after I go, it will be exactly the same. Those who want to drag the union movement down for their own ends will have no audience with ACTU ­affiliates.”