Michael Kaine, National Secretary

Michael has been fighting for the rights of transport workers for over 20 years. A qualified lawyer, Michael’s early career included working in the areas of community law, torts and commercial litigation at the NSW Crown Solicitor’s Office. Michael’s TWU career began organising owner drivers, concrete drivers and couriers. As National Secretary, Michael has led the TWU to take on some of the most powerful companies in the world over their treatment of workers in road transport and aviation. 

Under Michael’s stewardship, the TWU has run multifaceted campaigns to organise the road transport industry, bring Coles, Woolworths, Uber, DoorDash and Menulog to the table on lifting transport standards, win ground-breaking legislative reform for truckies and a world-first system for gig workers, and defeat the Qantas model of fragmentation and illegal outsourcing. Michael’s ambitions to eradicate gig exploitation right across the globe has seen him take up a leadership role in the gig economy section of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). He is also the ITF’s Asia Pacific Road Transport Chair and ACTU Vice President.

Follow him at @TWUMichaelKaine