The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is the peak national body representing workers in Australia. It is a council of 46 affiliated unions and represents about 1.8 million workers. The ACTU is the most visible aspect of the Australian labour movement.
The ACTU was formed in 1927. This makes the ACTU one of the earliest attempts by trade unions to apply the principles of One Big Union earlier explored by more radical syndicalist unions like the CNT or revolutionary industrial unions like the IWW. The ACTU's Australian trade union precursors include state labour councils like the Sydney Trades and Labor Council (formed in 1870) and the Inter-Colonial Trade Union Congress (formed in 1879).
The ACTU and Labour Councils have often united Australian working class opinion behind certain initiatives like the 8 hour day. The ACTU retains a close relationship with the Australian Labor Party, former ACTU President Bob Hawke went on to become the leader of the ALP and then Prime Minister of Australia.
The current ACTU President is Sharan Burrow and its Secretary is Greg Combet.
The AustralianWorkers' Union joined the ACTU in 1967, and the ACTU's merger with two leading federations of white-collar unions, the AustralianCouncil of Salaried and Professional Associations, in 1979, and the Council of Australian Government Employee Organisations, in 1981, gave it about 2,500,000 members, or more than three-fourths of the trade-union membership in Australia.
The ACTU's policy-making body, a biennial congress, is made up of delegates from state branches of the federation (called trades and labour councils) and from affiliated tradesunions.
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