- Tas Bull
Tasnor Ivan "Tas" Bull (
31 January ,1932 –29 May ,2003 ),Australia n trade union leader, was born inSydney in 1932. His first name was a combination ofTasmania andNorway , the respective birth places of his mother and father. He grew up in a working-class household in Tasmania. His father, an electrical contractor, had been a seaman. He was raised a member of theSalvation Army . He went to sea in 1946 and became active in theSeamen's Union of Australia (SUA), then controlled by theCommunist Party of Australia (CPA), which Bull joined in 1951. He left the CPA in 1959, following the crushing of theHungarian revolution by theSoviet Union .After his marriage Bull became a waterside worker (stevedore) in Hobart, joining the powerful
Waterside Workers' Federation (WWF), and was soon a job delegate. Later he worked inMelbourne , then Sydney, becoming an experienced negotiator. In Sydney he undertook an industrial law course atSydney University Law School. In 1967 he was elected a Vigilance Officer; in 1971 he was elected Federal Organiser, and later Assistant General Secretary. In 1984 he succeededCharlie Fitzgibbon as General Secretary, a post he held until 1992. He also became prominent in theAustralian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). He became an ACTU Vice President in 1987, and Senior Vice President in 1991.Bull led the WWF during the period of radical change on the waterfront. Technological change was greatly reducing the size of the workforce, while at the same time there was political pressure to reform waterfront work practices to make the Australian transport sector internationally competitive. In response a process of waterfront reform was begun by the Hawke Labor government. Bull co-operated with the reform, while defending his members' interests. In 1993 the WWF amalgamated with the SUA to form the
Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).Bull was also active in international trade union affairs. From 1972 onwards he worked with the
International Transport Workers' Federation , and for ten years until 1993 represented the Asia/Pacific region on its executive board.Following his retirement in 1993 Bull remained active in various left-wing and union causes, and published his autobiography "Life on the Waterfront" in 1998.
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