Celebrating 120 years of the mighty ASU

9 December 2025

The ASU SA + NT Branch has celebrated 120 years of union activity in South Australia. 

In December ASU members, delegates, elected officials, former Secretaries and special guests came together to mark 120 years since the Federated Clerks Union (FCU) was first established in South Australia. The FSU is one of the founding unions that make up what is now called the Australian Services Union.

We were delighted to have all our current and former elected leaders at the celebrations, including:

  • Former ASU Secretary and Life Member John Gazzola
  • Former ASU Secretary and Life Member Anne McEwen
  • Former ASU Secretary Andy Denard
  • Former ASU Secretary Katrine Hildyard
  • Former ASU Secretary Joseph Scales
  • Former ASU Assistant Secretary Ian Steel
  • Current ASU National Assistant Secretary and former SA+NT Assistant Secretary Scott Cowen
  • Current President Kristen Gilbertson
  • Current ASU Secretary Abbie Spencer
  • Current ASU Assistant Secretary Ella Waters

Federated Clerks Union SA Branch – a quick history

We are very proud of our union’s history and the results we have achieved for Clerical and Administrative workers over the last 120 years. 

At the time the FCU was established the majority of clerks were male, though women were entering the field in increasing numbers. Wages and working conditions were very poor, with male clerical workers earning less than the basic wage of 48 shillings a week, and women entitled to only half the male rate. 

The FCU secured federal awards for tally clerks in SA ports (in 1937) and then for thousands of Commonwealth temporary clerks during World War II (in 1942) before expanding coverage post-war into the oil, airline, and wool industries.

Harry Krantz – a legend in the union movement

Harry Krantz OAM was Secretary of the SA Branch from 1941 – 1984, and became Secretary when he was just 21 years old and the union was struggling to recover from the effects of the Depression. His ascendancy at such a young age came about when the incumbent union secretary was unfortunately killed in a bicycle accident and, in Harry’s words, ‘Nobody else really wanted the job’.

Harry built the union from just 20 members when he first took over, to one with over 6,000 members when he retired in 1984.

Harry had a clear vision of what needed to be done for the union and its members. Harry knew that his white-collar union membership would never be comfortable with militant action in support of industrial claims. Instead, he relied on advocacy and excellent research skills to win favourable judgments in the Industrial Court and, later, in the Industrial Commission. He became renowned as one of the best industrial advocates ever to appear before the bench.

Shortly after his election as Secretary, the union secured the South Australian clerks award. This award established for the first time a minimum rate of pay for clerical workers in South Australia. The immediate result of the new award was a pay increase for many impoverished workers who had been without a pay increase for 30 years. 

The clerks award was incrementally improved through successive cases and eventually came to encapsulate all of the working conditions that unions like the FCU have fought for and won: annual leave, sick leave, parental leave, casual loadings, redundancy pay, a classification structure, superannuation and others. This award set the basic minimum conditions for clerical and administrative workers in South Australia, whether or not they were members of a trade union.

Apart from battling employers and conservative governments, Harry Krantz famously battled the conservative forces in his own union, and inside the Australian Labor Party.

He was ardently opposed to B.A. Santamaria and the very conservative Catholic activists known widely as the “groupers”. The South Australian Branch of the FCU was the only state branch to survive attempts by right-wing activists to take over the union. 

Harry was a passionate advocate and fighter for people who were disadvantaged or discriminated against. His four decades of leadership is the foundation on which the Australian Services Union stands upon today.
 
Women in the FCU – a progressive union

The Federated Clerks Union was regarded as a very progressive union. 

The union evolved as the sector did, with female membership increasing dramatically as more and more women entered the workforce.

During the Second World War then Secretary Harry Krantz served with the Royal Australian Army, and it was Harry’s wife Elizabeth Teesdale-Smith who stepped into the Secretary position – becoming the first female Secretary of a South Australian trade union and the first woman on the executive of the South Australian United Trades and Labor Council. Harry’s support for Elizabeth was indicative of the respect that he had for women in the trade union movement and of his determination to ensure that women were not left behind in the pursuit of improved working conditions.

In 1962 the FCU was instrumental in forming the Equal Pay Council of South Australia, leading to significant advances in women’s pay.

Building on the legacy
 
Today we continue to build on the work of the FCU, improving and protecting the rights of clerical and administration workers in the private sector.  Right now we are in the Fair Work Commission trying to improve the Clerks Award; bargaining for better conditions in the private sector; fighting for Modern Award wage increases that keep up with the cost of living; campaigning for Reproductive Leave to be introduced into the National Employment Standards; and campaigning to ensure workers aren’t left behind by the introduction of Artificial Intelligence in our workplaces.