Greg Combet
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Gregory Ivan Combet AM (born 28 April 1958) is an Australian trade unionist and has been Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) since 2000.
Greg Combet was born in Sydney and educated at the Universities of New South Wales and Sydney, where he studied engineering, economics and labour relations. He was a project officer for the New South Wales Tenants' Union before working for the Lidcombe Workers' Health Centre. In 1987, he was employed by the Waterside Workers' Federation (now part of the Maritime Union of Australia).
Combet's association with the ACTU began in 1993 when he became a Senior Industrial Officer. In 1996 he was elected Assistant Secretary, and in 2000, following the retirement of Bill Kelty, he became Secretary. Over his time at the ACTU, Combet has co-ordinated many union campaigns, including the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute in which he rose to prominence, as well as campaigns to secure entitlements and compensation for the staff of the collapsed airline Ansett and asbestos victims of the James Hardie company. In his capacity as Secretary of the ACTU, Combet is leading the campaign against the Howard Government's industrial relations law changes.
Combet is a director of the Chifley Research Institute.
On 12 June 2006, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, he was made a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia.
On March 25, 2007, The Sunday Age reported that senior Australian Labor Party figures had announced that Combet would run for election representing the ALP in the marginal seat of Charlton in New South Wales.[1] However, later that day Combet told The Age newspaper that he was not planning an entry into federal politics at the 2007 election, preferring instead to continue leading the ACTU's campaign against the industrial relations law changes.[2]
