People Australia

James Thomas (Jim) Munro (1906-1994) labourer and trade union official 

Birth: possibly on 27 September 1906 at Spring Gully, Bendigo, Victoria, son of native-born parents Henry Phillip Browne (1873-1936) and Bridget Ellen (Nell), née Hayes (1885-1990). Marriage: reputedly in 1929 at Melbourne to Anne Ira Marinda Hayes (1906-1990). They had two sons. Death: 19 May 1994 at Kew, Melbourne. 

• Munro’s birth details are unconfirmed. His death certificate states that he was born at Spring Gully, Victoria, of unknown parents and had married at Melbourne at the age of 23. But the birth and marriage registrations under “Munro” have not been found. The birth details above come from Ancestry.com family trees, which do not explain why he changed his name from Browne [if he did].
• Apprenticed wood-turner in early 1920s. Participated in the Free Speech campaign in 1930s in Brunswick. Arrested for speaking publicly at one time at least and held in the Remand Centre in Pentridge prison.
• Joined Timber Workers' Union in early 1920s. Participated in the Timber Workers' Strike of 1929 and fought against the use of non-union labour to break the strike. Dismissed shortly after strike had ended. Gained some seasonal farm work and returned to Melbourne in 1930. Unemployed during Depression.
• Joined Communist Party of Australia in 1930 and was active in the Unemployed Workers Movement in Melbourne organising unemployment rallies and marches including protest demonstrations outside the houses of families evicted. Regular Friday night street meetings of unemployed were often broken up by police.
• Arrested with three others in the 1933 May Day march, as it was proscribed by the Police Commissioner, and the four men were convicted and fined.
• Gained employment in the timber industry in 1935. Became organiser with Timber Workers' Union while continuing to work in the industry.
• Returned to Melbourne in 1947 and started work at Carlton brewery. Elected to Committee of Management, Liquor Trades Union. Became Vice-President 1948; was organiser from 1949 to 1963. Elected to union's federal council and served for next twenty-five years, including as treasurer of the federal management committee.
• Secretary of the Victorian branch, Liquor Trades Union from 1963 until he retired in 1975. Led union through turbulent wage struggles during late 1960s and early 1970s, including the Great Hotel Strike of 1974. Union grew from 3,000 to 10,000 during that period as it changed from a smaller brewery-based organisation to a wider service organisation covering food and drink. Compiled union history while in retirement and a series of articles were published in the union journal between 1976 and 1986.
• Cause of death: multiple myeloma (2 years).

Sources
Sixty Years of Struggle, Vol. 2 pp. 47-54; Alleyn Best, The History of the Liquor Trades Union in Victoria (North Melbourne, 1990); Recorder, August 1994? No. 186.