The main public sector union has announced Rebecca Fawcett as its new national secretary.
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) governing councillors appointed Ms Fawcett, who was deputy secretary, to the top job at their meeting on Thursday.
"We will keep fighting to bring public sector work back in-house, strengthen protections around AI and automated decision making and make sure workers have the pay and conditions they need during a cost-of-living crisis," she said.
Ms Fawcett is the CPSU's first working single mother to serve as national secretary and the fourth woman to hold the role.
She takes up the role amid APS-wide bargaining, with the CPSU seeking a 15 per cent pay rise over three years for federal public servants along with improved conditions across agencies.
"I am incredibly proud to be appointed national secretary of the CPSU and to continue standing alongside members right across the public sector," Ms Fawcett said.
"CPSU members do essential work for the Australian community every single day. They deserve secure jobs, fair pay, safe workplaces, and public services that are properly staffed, properly funded and properly valued."
Finance and Public Service Minister and ACT Labor Senator Katy Gallagher congratulated Ms Fawcett on her appointment.
"I look forward to working with Rebecca in her new role as we continue strengthening the public service and supporting the people who deliver essential services to Australians," Senator Gallagher, who was a CPSU organiser before entering politics, said.
Former CPSU secretary Melissa Donnelly was last month appointed to lead the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), replacing Sally McManus as the leader of the nation's union movement.
Unions are holding twice-weekly meetings with the Commonwealth's lead negotiator, the Australian Public Service Commission's Alison Stott, to discuss a raft of claims including leave entitlements, public holidays, job security, flex time and the right to disconnect.
Ms Fawcett led the CPSU's negotiations in the first round of APS-wide bargaining, when the union secured flexible work and working from home rights, 18 weeks paid parental leave for both parents, new leave entitlements, stronger consultation rights, a 25 per cent casual loading and pay increases including for the lowest-paid APS workers.
"Our union is strongest when members and delegates are at the centre of every decision we make," she said.
"We have won important improvements, but there is more to do."
Since joining the CPSU as an organiser in 2001, Ms Fawcett has worked on campaigns including the Your Rights at Work campaign against the Howard Government's WorkChoices laws.
She has held senior roles in the union over more than 20 years, including as national organiser for Department of Defence employees and legal director, overseeing the CPSU's national legal and industrial work including the same job, same pay case against the Australian Taxation Office.
Key campaigns Ms Fawcett led include one that halted the planned closure of Australian Electoral Commission offices in regional Australia and another that fought against privatisation of Airservices Australia's firefighting functions.
She has also coordinated APS-wide industrial action to defend workplace rights and convened the CPSU's AI reference group, which is leading the union's approach to artificial intelligence.
The CPSU's governing council is meeting in Adelaide to discuss issues including agencies' use of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making, bringing public sector work back in-house, and progress in APS-wide bargaining.
