The IEU is mourning the passing of former federal president and NSW/ACT secretary John Quessy, who spearheaded its long-running Teachers are Teachers campaign to gain parity between university-trained early childhood teachers and their counterparts in primary schools.
IR academic and researcher Ron Callus, best known for leading a pioneering IR research centre and the first of the two landmark Australian Workplace IR Surveys, is being remembered for his outstanding scholarship, along with his humanity and compassion, after his death in Sydney aged 70.
Howard Government Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith, the architect of the 1996 Workplace Relations Act and a prime mover with Patrick's Chris Corrigan in the landmark 1998 waterfront dispute, died today.
Former AWU leader Bill Ludwig has been remembered as no-nonsense ex-shearer who dedicated his life to the union and became highly influential in the Labor Party in Queensland and nationally.
Former national IR tribunal leader Geoffrey Giudice has been remembered for knowing "not just the words but the tunes of industrial relations", as well as for being the "hipster of Collins Street" on a three-wheeled Piaggio that nodded to his Italian heritage.
