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Philip Wynnes Reilly (1916–2004)

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Philip Wynnes Reilly (1916-2004) clerk and trade union official

Birth: 13 August 1916 at Windsor, Melbourne, Victoria, son of native-born parents John Thomas Reilly (b.1884) salesman, and Emily Amelia, née Ellis (1888-1956). Marriage: 1943 in Victoria, to Phyllis Grace Smith (b.1920). Death: 16 May 2004 at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. 

  • Joined T&G Mutual Life Society in 1932, working until 1980.
  • Member of the Australian Insurance Staffs’ Federation AISF, (Australian Insurance Employees Union, AIEU, from 1976), Victorian branch, from 1941; branch committee member 1947 onwards; branch vice-president in 1949; president Victorian branch 1951; federal executive delegate 1950; federal councillor, 1950-51; federal vice-president 1954-56; federal president 1957-81; life member 1963.
  • Actively involved in campaign for salary increases through activities such as street marches in early 1970s. President of the Council of White Collar Associations, 1956, which later merged with the Salaried Employees’ Consultative Committee in which he worked to unite “white-collar” unions into a peak council which became the Australian Council of Salaried and Professional Associations (ACSPA), formed in 1957.
  • Became founding Victorian president of ACSPA; federal vice-president ACSPA; federal president ACSPA 1971-77 at least.
  • Honorary vice-president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions and member of ACTU executive about 1979-1981. Worked to affiliate ACSPA to ACTU in about 1979 and affiliate AIEU to ACSPA.
  • Appointed Member of Order of Australia (AM) for his contribution to the trade union movement in June 1976.
  • Australian representative to International Labour Organization Conference for Salaried and Professional Workers, Geneva, Switzerland in 1976.

Sources
Premium No. 7 1977 p.12-13, No. 11 1981 p.10-11.

Citation details

'Reilly, Philip Wynnes (1916–2004)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/reilly-philip-wynnes-34607/text43518, accessed 1 July 2025.

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