{{short description|Australian trade unionist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Multiple issues|{{more citations needed|date=December 2017}}{{primary sources|date=December 2017}}}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Albert Monk | honorific_suffix = CMG | image = AEMonk1960.jpg | office1 = 2nd President of the ACTU | term_start1 = 1934 | term_end1 = 1943 | term_start2 = 1949 | term_end2 = 1969 | predecessor1 = Billy Duggan | successor1 = Percy Clarey | predecessor2 = Percy Clarey | successor2 = Bob Hawke | office3 = 2nd Secretary of the ACTU | term_start3 = 1943 | term_end3 = 1949 | predecessor3 = Charlie Crofts | successor3 = Reg Broadby | birth_name = Albert Ernest Monk | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1900|9|16}} | birth_place = Waltham Abbey, Essex, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1975|2|11|1900|9|16}} | death_place = Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia | profession = Trade unionist }} '''Albert Ernest Monk''' CMG (16 September 1900 – 11 February 1975) was an Australian trade unionist. He served as both President and Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) for a total of 35 years; first as President from 1934 to 1943, then Secretary from 1943 to 1949, and then President again from 1949 to 1969.
==Early life== Monk was born on 16 September 1900 in Waltham Abbey, Essex, England. He was the son of Ada Kate (née Dennis) and Ernest George Monk.<ref name=adb>{{cite news|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/monk-albert-ernest-11148|title=Albert Ernest Monk (1900–1975)|first=Peter|last=Love|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|volume=15|year=2000}}</ref>
Monk and his family emigrated to Australia in about 1910, where his father – a munitions expert – worked at the Maribyrnong Cordite Factory. He attended a state school in Moonee Ponds and later attended a business college where he learned shorthand. After completing his education he worked as a clerk for the Carters' and Drivers' Union.<ref name=adb/>
==Labour movement== Monk began working for the Melbourne Trades Hall Council in 1924 and was promoted to assistant secretary in 1929. He was also secretary to the Conference of Federated Unions and was the minute secretary at the All-Australian Trade Union Congress in 1927, which resulted in the establishment of the Australasian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). During the Great Depression he served as secretary of the Central Unemployment Committee and was appointed to the Victorian government's Unemployment Relief Works Board and the Victorian State Relief Committee (a government-funded food bank).<ref name=adb/>
===ACTU=== In 1934, following Billy Duggan's death, Monk succeeded as secretary of the Trades Hall Council and president of the ACTU, then a part-time position.<ref name=adb/>
==Personal life== Monk married Frances Fealy in 1943.<ref name=adb/> In 1966 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1066309| title = It's an Honour}}. Retrieved 19 March 2018</ref> He retired to Moonee Ponds and died in Fitzroy on 11 February 1975, aged 74.<ref name=adb/>
Writer Blanche d'Alpuget had intended to write a biography of Monk but was refused permission by Monk's widow, as she did not want the public to know that she was Monk's second wife.
D'Alpuget instead wrote a biography of Monk's successor as ACTU President and future Prime Minister Bob Hawke, whom she married in 1995.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/bob-and-blanche-an-affair-for-the-ages/news-story/eeaf8073ea6f92a2a35ac310828df51f| title = Reference at www.theaustralian.com.au}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-npo|union}} {{s-bef | before=Billy Duggan}} {{s-ttl | title=President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions | years=1934–1943}} {{s-aft | after=Percy Clarey}} {{s-bef | before=Charlie Crofts}} {{s-ttl | title=Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions | years=1943–1949}} {{s-aft | after=Reg Broadby}} {{s-bef | before=Percy Clarey}} {{s-ttl | title=President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions | years=1949–1969}} {{s-aft | after=Bob Hawke}} {{s-end}}
{{ACTU Presidents}} {{ACTU Secretaries}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monk, Albert}} Category:1900 births Category:1975 deaths Category:Australian Council of Trade Unions people Category:English emigrants to Australia Category:People from Waltham Abbey, Essex Category:Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:20th-century Australian trade unionists