Victorian Trades Hall Council is the voice of Victorians at work. We are an organising movement; coordinating the efforts of 41 affiliated unions and over 500,000 Victorian union members. Victorian Trades Hall Council is the decision making body of the Victorian union movement. A representative elected Executive Council meets monthly, but day to day campaigns, policy, and events are managed by the Secretary and two Assistant Secretaries who are elected by VTHC delegates.
Our Trades Hall is the oldest State Trades and Labour Council, and pre-dates our Federal union peak body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Trades Hall also coordinates with several Regional Trades and Labour Councils acting locally in Victoria’s regional centres.
Our work
The Victorian Trades Hall Council helps organise activities and campaigns with and on behalf of affiliated unions. Some of the work Trades Hall is regularly involved in includes:
- Lobbying State parliament on legislation that affects the lives of working Victorians.
- Coordinating Victorian campaigns on industrial, political and social issues.
- Organising large rallies, marches, protests and other public events.
- Providing strategic advice and support for unions on individual campaigns.
- Communicating with the public and media about trade union issues.
Our building
Victorian Trades Hall c.1889
Victoria’s Trades Hall, rising grandly from the northern edge of the Melbourne CBD, is a national treasure and a symbol of the aspirations of the Australian people. For over 150 years the Trades Hall building has given form to dreams of a better life for working people and their families.
Discover more about the history of Victorian Trades Hall Council building, book in to a free regular building tour or drop in to the Workers Museum and Paddy’s Gallery.
Trades Hall is recognised on the National Heritage List as a place of historic and continuing cultural impact, and is part of an international bid for World Heritage listing.
The building itself is a labour of love by generations Victoria’s best craftspeople, using the finest materials available. It was built as a “people’s palace” – where ordinary working-class people could feel pride in their surroundings whilst studying art, history, politics, and economics, and organising campaigns for working-class liberation.
In these rooms workers discussed the merits of Federation, won the campaign against conscription, raised funds for the striking Aboriginal communities at Wave Hill, planned activism for Equal Pay, quilted squares memorialising comrades lost to AIDS, and moved motions to disrupt South African apartheid. The walls bear the scars of bullets, the stairs are warped by thousands of hob-nail boots, and chipped bluestone testifies to an errant keg of beer on the night of Whitlam’s election.
Today you’ll still find the hall buzzing with campaign meetings, arts events and activism day and night. Book in to a free regular building tour or drop in to the Workers Museum and Paddy’s Gallery.
Trades Hall and Literary Institute
The Trades Hall and Literary Institute (THLI) is responsible for the care and management of the land and buildings of the Victorian Trades Hall.
The THLI committee of management comprises appointed trustees and the members of the Executive Committee of Victorian Trades Hall Council.
Regional Trades and Labour Councils
Ballarat Regional Trades & Labour Council
Union Square, 24 Camp Street, Ballarat Vic 3350
Phone: (03) 5332 3666
Email: [email protected]
President: Ross Kenna
Vice President: Stephanie Cooper
Secretary/Treasurer: Vacant
Assistant Secretary: Ron Woods
40 View Street, Bendigo Vic 3550
Phone: (03) 5443 5173
Fax: (03) 5442 5961
Email: [email protected]
President: Marty Stradbrook
Secretary: Luke Martin
127 Myers Street, Geelong Vic 3220
Phone: (03) 5221 1712
Fax: (03) 5223 1115
Email: [email protected]
President: Zeta Henderson
Secretary: Anthony Anderson
Assistant Secretary: Adele Welsh
Gippsland Trades & Labour Council Inc.
120 Buckley Street, Morwell Vic 3840
Postal Address: PO Box 240, Morwell Vic 3840
Phone: (03) 5133 7684
Acting President: Simon Lund
Secretary: Steve Dodd
Assistant Secretary: Mark Richards
Goulburn Valley Trades & Labour Council
361 Wyndham Street, Shepparton Vic 3630
Postal Address: PO Box 788, Shepparton Vic 3630
Phone: (03) 5831 5331
Fax: (03) 5831 3079
Email: [email protected]
President: Mark Owens
Vice President: Julia Italia
Secretary: Mark Tait (0419 747 741)
Assistant Secretary: Anthony Fullarton
South-West Trades & Labour Council
Shop 2, 103 Percy Street, Portland Vic 3305
Phone: (03) 5523 4272
Fax: (03) 5523 3358
Email: [email protected]
Secretary: Rob Saunders
North-East Border Trades & Labour Council
1/7 Thomas Mitchell Drive, Wodonga Vic 3690
Phone: 0417 543 585
Email: [email protected]
President: Virginia Mansel Lees
Secretary: Alison Kairns
Assistant Secretary: Chip Eling
Sunraysia Trades & Labour Council Inc.
Postal Address: PO Box 930, Mildura Vic 3502
Phone: (03) 5022 1926
Email: [email protected]
Secretary: Darren Law
Treasurer "Honorary": Diane Sutherland
President: Arthur Edge
Vice-President: Kayleen Brazulatitis
Victorian Regional Trades and Labour Councils Association
The Victorian Regional Trades and Labour Councils Association is the peak coordinating body for all Regional Trades and Labour Councils all around Victoria.
Union Square, 24 Camp street, Ballarat VIC 3350
Phone: (03) 5332 3666
Fax: (03) 5333 5602
Email: [email protected]
President: Virginia Mansel Lees
Secretary: Brett Edgington
Staff and Officials
Trades Hall staff photo 2021
Presidential Positions
President: Justin Mullaly
Senior Vice President: Ronnie Hayden
Senior Vice President (AffirmativeAction): Karen Batt
Vice Presidents (Affirmative Action): Madeleine Harradence, Belinda Jacobi
Vice President: Daniel Filazzola
Elected Officers
Secretary: Luke Hilakari
Assistant Secretaries: Amanda Threlfall, Wil Stracke, Danae Bosler (Appointed)
Central Office
EA to Secretary | Office Manager: Diane Newham
Young Workers Centre
YWC Lead Organiser: Yolanda Robson
YWC Lead Principal Solicitor: Kelly Thomas
Campaigns Team
Lead Organiser Campaigns & Candidate School: Claire Boland
Politics and Research
Chief of Staff: Ted Sussex
Politics and Research Lead Organiser: Tiarne Crowther
Communications and Digital
Communications and Digital Lead Organiser: Edwina Byrne
Safety & Rights Training
Lead Organiser: Felicity Sowerbutts
Women's Team
Women's Lead Organiser: Carolyn Dunbar
OH&S Unit
OH&S Unit Coordinator: Dominic Melling
Union Assist
Co-ordinator: Claire Mitchell
Workers' Co-operatives
Earthworker Energy Manufacturing Cooperative - heat pump and solar hot water, and large portable batteries. Union members get $275 off your fully installed package until 30 June 2024!
Earthworker Smart Energy Cooperative - draft proofing, secondary glazing, home energy efficiency, smart energy advice
CoPower - electricity retailer
Earthworker Construction Cooperative: decking, fencing, pergolas, carpentry, cabinetry, plumbing, micro-housing
Hope Cooperative - refugee and asylum seeker family and education support, Hope Kiosk coffee at VTHC