Actu

	country	Australia
	affiliation	ICFTU
	members	~18 million (2006)
	full Name	Australian Council of Trade Unions
	founded	1927
	office	Melbourne , Victoria
	people	Sharan Burrow , president
	website	wwwactuasnau

The Australian Council of Trade Unions ('''ACTU''') is the largest peak national body representing workers in Australia . It is a council of 46 affiliated Union s representing about 1.8 million Workers . The ACTU is probably the most visible aspect of the Australian Labour Movement .

The ACTU was formed in 1927 as the "Australiasian Council of Trade Unions". It was 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 Union s like the IWW .

In the Australian case, agitation for One Big Union occurred from 1911 from the revolutionary Australian section of the IWW and from the pro- Arbitration Australian Workers Union (AWU). At that time the AWU was the largest single Australian union. In 1918 after the destruction of the Australian IWW a group of militant trade unions (which were opposed to the AWU) attempted to form One Big Union under the name Workers Industrial Union Of Australia (WIUA). The hostility between the WIUA and the AWU prevented the formation of One Big Union in Australia. It was the impetus of a conservative Federal government in 1927 which impelled the Australian trade unions to form a national council.
in Victoria is the "birthplace" of the ACTU]]
The ACTU's Australian trade union "peak body" precursors include state Labour Council s like the Victorian Trades Hall Council (originating in 1856 as the 'Melbourne Trades Hall Committee'), the Labor Council Of New South Wales (originally formed in 1870 as the 'Sydney Trades and Labor Council') and the Inter-Colonial Trade Union Congress (formed in 1879 ).

The ACTU has not achieved the ideals expressed for One Big Union: it remains a council organisation and still has not successfully achieved the support of all workers organisations. Currently the ACTU is opposed by another peak council, the Australian Council Of Professional Associations which caters to a small number of non-union bodies.

Additionally, from its formation in 1927 the ACTU was only seen as represting blue collar trades unions, and only managed to achieve the support of trades unions. From 1948 peak bodies of white collar associations existed, and from 1969 peak bodies of government employees. The white collar bodies were: the (1969) which became the Council Of Australian Government Employee Organisations (CAGEO) in 1975. The ACTU only managed to successfully integrate these bodies in 1981. After 1981 the ACTU was generally viewed by the Australian media and public as the organisation representing all workers' organisations.
, Secretary of the ACTU, speaking on 2 November 2005 shortly after the Government introduced its ''WorkChoices'' legislation into the Australian Parliament.]]
The ACTU and Labour Councils have often united Australian working class opinion behind certain initiatives like the Eight-hour Day or compulsory arbitration. In the early 1980s this unifying impulse was used to force an accord between government, capital and labour on wages and prices; when the ALP Federal government and ACTU used their influence to convince reluctant unionists. 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 . Other current members of Federal Parliament who were ACTU Presidents are former ALP leader Simon Crean and the Member for Throsby, Jennie George .

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the ACTU was influential in a move to forcibly amalgamate smaller unions into so called "super unions". The ACTU's plans envisaged 20 super unions organised on an industrial basis. While a large number of amalgamations occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s (in part under the influence of changed industrial law), there are still a large number of unions, and union coverage is often organised by historical amalgamation, not by industry.

The current ACTU President is Sharan Burrow and its Secretary is Greg Combet .

CURRENT MEMBER ORGANISATIONS