People Australia

Laurie Carmichael, by Gary Ede, 1984

National Library of Australia, 12090593

Laurence Norman Richard Carmichael (Laurie) (1925-2018) fitter, trade union official and Communist

Birth: 1925 at Coburg, Melbourne, Victoria, eldest child of native-born parents Richard George (George) Carmichael (1903-1974)), iron moulder, later chef, and his first wife Myrtle Isabella Florence Ann, née Jones (1902-1988). Marriages: (1) 14 April 1947 at the office of the Government Statist, Melbourne, to Catherine Valerie (Val) Shanahan (1926-1991), salesgirl, born at Cowra, New South Wales. They had one son. (2) 1993 to Joy. Death: 18 August 2018 at the Sunshine coast, Queensland. Religion [service record] Anglican. 

• Apprenticed fitter and turner, interrupted by service in Royal Australian Air Force from 2 August 1944 to 20 February 1946.
• Joined Eureka Youth league in 1943 and Communist Party of Australia in 1944. After the war he returned to his apprenticeship and was a leader in a successful campaign for daylight technical training for apprentices with the Eureka Youth league.
• Active in Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) in 1946 transport strike and 1947 engineers' strike. Worked as a fitter at Williamstown naval dockyard, Melbourne, in 1948 and was elected shop steward in 1949. Secretary of the dockyard shop committee in 1950.
• Elected to AEU district committee in 1951 and AEU political committee in 1953. Full-time Melbourne district secretary of the AEU from 1958 to 1970. Assistant national secretary, AEU (AMFSU) 1970-1984 (retired from position), retaining the position when AEU joined with Boilermakers and Blacksmiths' Union to form the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union (AMWU).
• Leader in hard-fought wage campaigns in 1960s and 1970s, particularly in the much-publicised disputes with General Motors Holden in 1964, and with Ford at its Broadmeadows plant in 1969 and 1973.
• In 1964 he was described by the then Federal minister of labour, Bill McMahon, in parliament as “one of the most evil men in the trade union movement in Victoria”. Led campaign for 35-hour week in 1979, which eventuated in 1981 as a 38-hour week with wage increases in the metal industry award agreement. 
• Research officer, AMWU. Elected to Australian Council of Trade Unions executive in 1983 and was a key negotiator of ACTU's Accord with the Australian Labor Party Federal government.
• Assistant secretary, ACTU, in 1987. Involved in ACTU's blueprint for restructuring the award system in 1987. Co-wrote ACTU policy of Charter for Jobs.
• Member, Australian Manufacturing Council, from 1983 to 1984. Member of the Federal government's Cashman Committee on computer assisted manufacturing in 1983-84.
• While in the RAAF during WWII he was involved in a successful campaign against the active recruitment of Air Force personnel to help re-establish Dutch colonial rule over Indonesia. He later advocated for peace, against nuclear war and for solidarity with national liberation struggles, including against Australia's role in the Vietnam War.
• In Senator Doug Cameron’s words, “a working class intellectual”, he shared with Prime Minister Paul Keating, a love of classical music, in particular that of Gustav Mahler. 

Sources
Sydney Morning Herald, 10 September 1991, p. 6; Financial Review (Weekend Review), 31 August 1984 pp 33-34; Tribune (Sydney), 10 October 1984, pp.8-9; Australian Senate hansard: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22chamber/hansards/83790d29-24a1-423d-9160-70eab8cb7b5e/0042%22;src1=sm1.