Paul Howes

Paul Howes (born 23 August 1981) is an Australian trade unionist. He was involved in the Australian trade union movement from 1999 through 2014. His most recent position was as National Secretary of the Australian Workers' Union, the youngest person to serve in that position. In 2008, Howes was elected as vice president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, and he served on a number of Government boards.

Background and early career Howes entered politics while still at Blaxland High School in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, joining the far-left political groups Democratic Socialist Party. He did not finish high school, leaving in Year 9.

By the age of 16, after a solidarity trip to Cuba to the World Festival of Youth and Students, Howes abandoned far-left politics and joined the Australian Labor Party.

Trade union career Howes became a union official at the age of 17 when he was employed as a research officer by the Labor Council of New South Wales (now Unions New South Wales). He joined the Australian Workers' Union as an official in New South Wales in 2002 and was later recruited to the National Office of the union. In 2005 he was elected as the union's National Vice President, becoming the youngest national official in the history of the union. He was elected National Secretary of the Australian Workers' Union following the election of former AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten to the Australian House of Representatives in November 2007.

Howes was also Deputy Chair of AustralianSuper, one of the largest superannuation trusts in Australia. He was also a member of the National Executive of the Australian Labor Party. He was a director of the Chifley Research Centre and the McKell Institute as well as representing the Asia Pacific Region on the executive committee of the IndustriALL Global Union.

Howes came to national attention as a union spokesperson for the miners during the Beaconsfield Mine Disaster.

In November 2010 Howes wrote Confessions of a Faceless Man: inside campaign 2010, an autobiographical analyses of the election and 18 months in Australian politics. He also gave a speech to the Sydney Institute, which The Australian published as an opinion piece headed: "ALP's faceless men must learn to tolerate dissent."

In 2013, Howes was considered for an appointment to the Australian Senate, but subsequently withdrew his nomination in September, while announcing his intention to continue to serve as the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union. In explaining his reasons for stepping down, Howes stated that his public support for gay marriage had drawn the ire of pro-Catholic right-wing members of the ALP. Speaking to reporters, Howes stated that "I don't want to be a wrecker and I don't want to divide. It is clear if I was to be a candidate for this position it would be a divisive, negative and destructive fight in the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party".

In a speech in February 2014, Howes provoked controversy by arguing that the biggest problem with industrial relations in Australia is the constant changes in the regulatory framework. He called for a new partnership between business, government and unions to collaborate and agree to a framework which could provide a stable industrial relations environment. Howes declared agreement with the Abbott government saying there had been "unsustainable growth in wages" in some sectors of the economy.

Published works