Bill Ludwig

Who is Bill Ludwig?

William Patrick Ludwig OAM, Australian trade union official, is National President and Queensland state secretary of the Australian Workers' Union, one of Australia's oldest and largest unions.

Ludwig was born in Queensland in 1927 and was educated at Marist College in the Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove. He began his working life as a shearer and remained in the pastoral industry until 1971 when he became an employee of the AWU.

In 1982 Ludwig was elected as the South Western District Secretary of the AWU in Queensland, a position he held until he was elected as the Secretary of the state branch in Queensland in 1988.

Ludwig is head of the powerful Labor Forum or AWU Faction which dominates the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party. Ludwig is a member of the ALP National Executive and Vice President of the ALP's Queensland Branch. His son Joe Ludwig is an ALP Senator from Queensland and was Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister Assisting on Queensland Flood Recovery

In 1997 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to Industrial Relations through The Australian Workers' Union and in 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal.