Norma Jones has been a stalwart of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since she joined in 1970. At that time Norma lived in Toowoomba, where she was very active, holding many positions in her branch and representing Toowoomba South and the Darling Downs on State Council and State Conferences. During the years leading to the 1980 federal intervention in the ALP, the Toowoomba Branches were in turmoil which led to their closure by the (then) Inner Executive of the ALP. At this time, Norma Jones was central to the movement for reform of the party and is now a Life Member, having continued her involvement and serving as a member of the National ALP Executive and Party Organiser.
George Britten was a Plumbers Union delegate across various workplaces in Mount Isa, Townsville and Brisbane from 1950 until the mid-1980s. He was a member of the Communist Party of Australia. He reflects on the changing nature of unionism in Queensland and his involvement in industrial campaigns including the Springboks tour of 1971, the Plumbers Union campaign for the 38 hour week in 1982 and the strike calling for the Federal Award to apply in Queensland from 1976-79.
Stan Heilbron is a member of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA). He is notable for his work in the Townsville community as a member of the Federated Clerks Union (FCU), Secretary of the Gulliver Progress Association and as a member of the Parents and Citizens Association. He was involved in many social issues including public transport and housing.
Robert (Uncle Bob) Anderson was the first Indigenous Australian to work as the State Organiser for the Building Workers Industrial Union (later amalgamated with other unions into the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union) from 1963 to 1978. He took an active part in many industrial disputes including the Mount Isa Copper Mine Lock-Out 1964-65, mines in Papua New Guinea in the late 1960s, and the controversial South African Springboks rugby tour in 1971.
Trade Unionist Kevin Carroll has been a member of the Building Workers Industrial Union (amalgamated into the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union in 1991) since 1965, and has held prominent roles within both the BWIU and the Trades and Labor Council. He discusses his career within the building and construction industry, and highlights some of the key challenges facing the union movement.
Union official and academic Diane Zetlin has worked in an academic capacity at the University of Queensland since 1976. She became involved with the Federated Australian University Staff Association (FAUSA) as President, and was involved in the amalgamation of unions to form the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), of which she later became General Secretary. Her career has spanned radical changes in political and social attitudes, and she discusses changing conditions for tertiary workers and the role of women in trade unions.
Trade Unionist Walter Threlfall became Assistant State Secretary of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) in 1983. He discusses his time as an ETU member and official from 1972 until the mid-1990s in North Queensland, with particular reference to the infamous SEQEB dispute of the Bjelke-Petersen era and the Mount Isa Mine lockout.
Trade Unionist Jack Hutton, as a delegate for the Boilermakers and Blacksmiths Union (later the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union) from 1951-91, was the longest serving Trades and Labour Council member in Australia. He reflects on his many years of union involvement, from the railways in Townsville to the Burdekin Bridge, and recalls the events and personalities which shaped his career.
Union leader and activist Wilf Ardill discusses his history in the union movement and the Labor Party and recalls the federal intervention into the Queensland branch of the Labor Party and the formation of the Socialist Left faction.
