People Australia

George Hayes, caricature by Dick Ovenden, 1924

Labor Call (Melbourne), 24 April 1924, p 10

George Hayes (1883-1954) baker and union official 

Birth: 1883 at Mordialloc, Victoria, son of George Hayes, cook, and Mary Anne, née Washington. Marriage: 22 September 1906 at Melbourne, with Independent Presbyterian Church forms to native-born Bertha Ann Fort/Forte (1883-1974). They had one daughter and five sons. Death: 28 September 1954 in Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Melbourne: usual residence East Brunswick. 

• Member of the Wages Board from 1916 to 1924 at least. Honorary secretary Food Trades Federation in 1927. President, Melbourne Trades Hall Council (MTHC) in 1929 and MTHC Salaries Officers Association.
• An official of the Operative Bakers’ Union for 35 years, for 26 of which he was assistant secretary. Elected secretary in 1945.
• Elected president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party in 1946. Committee member of the Victorian Labor College.
• Mayor of Brunswick in 1944.
• Active in efforts to have time rate provisions embodied in Factories and Shops Act and to eliminate night work for bakers; Represented MTHC on Committee of Enquiry into Factories and Shops Act.
• Appointed Justice of the Peace.
• Retired as his union’s secretary in July 1954, due to ill health.
• Cause of death: cerebral thrombosis, diabetes Mellitus and pyelonephritis.
• His son Gilbert was also a trade union leader.

Sources
Australian Worker (Sydney), 7 May 1924, p 1; Labor, October 1954, p 3; Argus (Melbourne), 22 April 1946.