Former fast-food worker Emma Kingdon elected ACTU president
Emma Kingdon, a 38-year-old union organiser who started as a KFC worker, has been elected president of the ACTU.
Emma Kingdon has been elected president of Australia's peak union body, the ACTU. She will formally take the role in December.
The 38-year-old replaces Michele O'Neil and will work alongside new ACTU secretary Melissa Donnelly. Kingdon's working life began at a Rockingham KFC southwest of Perth, where she joined the SDA union.
Kingdon later became a union organiser for the United Workers Union and the Finance Sector Union. She championed workers made redundant at the National Australia Bank.
She also secured pay rises for child care and aged care workers. She spent the past nine months as executive officer of the CFMEU administration, overseeing corruption cleanup in the construction union.
Kingdon has been at the ACTU for 10 years as national campaigns director. She says her priority is securing better rights at work so workers' wages keep pace with living costs.
- 38 years old
- New ACTU president age
- Rockingham KFC, southwest of Perth
- Starting location
- 10 years as national campaigns director
- ACTU tenure
- Kingdon and Donnelly
- Combined experience
Why it mattersAs ACTU president, Kingdon will set the union movement's agenda on wages, conditions and worker rights for the coming years.
AustraliaAustralia's unions will be led by someone focused on cost-of-living pressures, likely to push harder on wage negotiations and worker protections.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 h ago
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