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UNI was saddened to hear of the passing of John Maynes, the former President of the Federated Clerks Union of Australia. He was 86.



Mr. Maynes’s contribution, through FIET, to the development of UNI Global Union will never be forgotten. As a pioneer and strong believer in international trade unionism, he played a key role in FIET and its Asian and Pacific regional organisation ASIA-FIET.



“John recognised already decades ago that national economies were more and more influenced by international trends,” said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. “In this regard, he put FIET on a new footing to deal with what we now term globalisation. He saw how a combination of free markets, growing multinational company power and advanced technology were transforming the world of work.”



Mr. Maynes took his international trade union duties extremely seriously; he was first elected to the FIET World Executive Committee at the London Congress in 1973 and was elected 1st Vice-President of ASIA-FIET at its foundation conference in May 1973. He went on to become President of ASIA-FIET and served in this position from 1986 to 1990, greatly contributing to the development of the organisation, as well as playing an active role in developing the global work of the Industry Sector.



He will also be remembered for his vigorous campaigning for equal pay for work of equal value, his pioneering work to obtain industrial rights to notification and consultation on the introduction of technological change, and his active promotion of white collar unionism in developing countries.



Along with his active international union career, Mr. Maynes raised seven children.



“The Union Movement in Australia has lost one of its great leaders from the 20th century,” said Joe deBruyn, National Secretary of the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees Association and President of UNI Asia & Pacific.