Howard Guille

Interviewed by
Danielle Miller, Roger Scott and Ann Scott
Feb 05 2013
Howard Guille

Howard Guille was the Queensland State Secretary for the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) from 1993 to 2006 and was involved in the 1993 amalgamation of  academic unions which formed the NTEU. During his union career he was involved in enterprise bargaining, the Indigenous Stolen Wages Campaign and the Papua New Guinea National Minimum Wage Case.

Biography
Time Summary Keywords
00:00:00

Howard Guille discusses his childhood in the 1950s in northern England. He speaks about his family background of coal mining and domestic service.

 England
00:02:51

Howard Guille describes his early employment after leaving school at 15. He mentions his early union involvement in the industrial agricultural industry in Guernsey, England, in the mid-1960s.

 unions, work experience
00:04:31

Howard Guille discusses his early teaching experience and his move to New Zealand to take a position as an Economics Lecturer. He speaks about his involvement with unions in New Zealand which lead to his move to Australia in 1976 to take a position with the North Brisbane Centre for Adult Education.

 adult education, education, New Zealand, unions
00:10:04

Howard Guille describes his initial impressions of the union movement in Brisbane. He compares the strength of the union movement in Brisbane with New Zealand.

 Bernadette Callaghan, Brisbane, New Zealand, Ray Dempsey, Rene Veltmeyer, Trades and Labor Council, union militancy, unions
00:13:32

Howard Guille expands on the idea of union militancy as well as union relationships with political parties in the 1970s and 1980s. He outlines the formation of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

 union militancy, unions
00:18:20

Howard Guille discusses the North Brisbane CAE.
00:19:59

Howard Guille describes how he came to be State Secretary of the College Academics Union (CAU) in 1983. He speaks about union structures in TAFE and CAE.

 academia, unions
00:24:45

Howard Guille discusses the different unions and structures which covered academics at Universities and Colleges in Queensland.

 academia, unions, universities
00:28:14

Howards Guille discusses his experience teaching about industrial relations in the CAE. He discusses the types of students.
00:34:44

Howard Guille describes the amalgamation of the CAEs in 1981. He discusses how this affected the CAEs and how the CAU became involved.

 education reform, Peter Botsman, unions
00:40:56

Howard Guille discusses the CAU's affiliation with the Labor Council. He also discusses the CAU's high representation of women.

 equity, peak bodies, Trades and Labor Council, women
00:42:52

Howard Guille describes the advantages of a federal union affiliation over a state union affiliation for higher education.

 unions
00:47:14

Howard Guille talks about the changes to unionism in 1989. He explains the emergence of federal amalgamation talks between academic unions.

 ACTU, Dawkins reforms, Diane Zetlin, union amalgamation
00:53:15

Howard Guille further discusses the federal amalgamation of academic unions which occurred in 1993.

 Dawkins reforms, education, Federated Clerks Union, Miscellaneous Workers Union, NTEU, Public Sector Union, union amalgamation
00:59:55

Howard Guille discusses the effect of diverse working conditions between the different tertiary institutions.

 Griffith University, union amalgamation
01:01:33

Howard Guille discusses the tension between more academic and more trade based universities with references to the Darling Downs University and the University of Queensland.

 NTEU, union amalgamation, universities, University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland
01:04:46

Howard Guille describes the various amalgamation proposals in Queensland.

 Peter Botsman, union amalgamation, union membership, universities
01:09:15

Howard Guille outlines how he came to take the position of Queensland State Secretary for the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) which he held from 1993 to 2006 in a part time capacity.

 David Hinchliffe, NTEU, SEQEB dispute, Trades and Labor Council
01:14:49

Howard Guille discusses the issues associated with negotiating with universities as corporate entities. He comments on the impact of the Dawkins changes on universities.

 Dawkins reforms, NTEU, universities
01:19:44

Howard Guille speaks about the ways that enterprise bargaining changed the NTEU. He explains why the NTEU voted against it.

 enterprise bargaining, NTEU
01:27:47

Howard Guille comments on NTEU involvement in the Indigenous Rights Stolen Wages campaign.

 Bligh Government 2007-12, Indigenous issues, NTEU, stolen wages, union campaigns
01:35:58

Howard Guille discusses his reasons for becoming involved with the Papua New Guinea national wage case in 2000. He describes his role and the changes he helped to implement.

 ACTU, John Pasca, Papua New Guinea, pay dispute
01:43:31

Howard Guille speaks about the difficulties in monitoring progress in Papua New Guinea.

 ACTU, corruption, Papua New Guinea
01:47:10

Howard Guille describes his best memories from his union career. Including his time with the NTEU between 1996 and 2004, as well as the accord period from 1988-92.

 NTEU, sugar, Townsville, Trades and Labor Council
01:53:09

Howard Guille comments on his regrets from his union career.

 Bond University, Howard Government 1996-2007, University of the Sunshine Coast, Work Choices
02:01:25

Interview ends
Position:
Trade Unionist
Bailiwick:
National Tertiary Education Union
Decade:
1990s, 2000s
Sound byte: 

Howard Guille

Biography

Howard Guille

Howard Guille was the Queensland State Secretary for the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) from 1993 to 2006 and was involved in the 1993 amalgamation of  academic unions which formed the NTEU. During his union career he was involved in enterprise bargaining, the Indigenous Stolen Wages Campaign and the Papua New Guinea National Minimum Wage Case.

Howard Guille was born in Northern England in the 1940s to a family involved in unionism. He became involved in the British union movement in the 1960s before moving to New Zealand to take a teaching position as an Economics Lecturer. In New Zealand he became involved in the union movement which lead to a position teaching Industrial Relations at the North Brisbane Centre for Adult Education in Queensland, Australia, in 1976.

In 1983 Guille became the Queensland State Secretary of the College Academics Union (CAU) and was involved in the CAU's affiliation with the Labor Council and in promoting women's equality within the CAU. Guille was particularly involved in the academic union amalgamation talks in the late 1980s and early 1990s which lead to the formation of the NTEU in 1993. During his time in the NTEU Guille became passionate about the Indigenous Stolen Wages Campaign. This campaign called for Queensland to repay the wages and savings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders which were withheld by the State between 1904 and 1972. Guille also consulted in Papua New Guinea in 2000 and again in 2008 on the National Minimum Wage Case which aimed to increase wages and living standards across the country.

Copyright © Centre for the Government of Queensland, the University of Queensland, 2014.

The copyright holder of this material grants users permission to access the material on this website for the following purposes only: research and study, education, other non-commercial and non-public uses.

Associated interviews: 
Diane Zetlin