By Lucinda Garbutt-Young in Canberra

The country’s union movement has a new top boss, appointed to lead workers following a recent era tainted by allegations of corruption at its major construction and maritime branch.

Melissa Donnelly is secretary-elect of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), and will replace the woman who has been at the organisation’s helm for more than a decade.

Ms Donnelly is the secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and will transition to the larger role at the end of August.

The appointments come after Sally McManus, secretary since 2017, and Michele O’Neil, president since 2018, announced in late July they would step down and make way for younger leaders to bring the “movement forward”.

Ms McManus will finish in the role at the end of August, while Ms O’Neil will depart before the end of 2026 to ”assist with the leadership transition”.

The appointment of Ms Donnelly marks a new chapter for Australian unions, following controversy surrounding the CFMEU and high-profile allegations around corruption and stand-over tactics in the construction sector.

The union has been subject to a powerful, ongoing state government Commission of Inquiry in Queensland, while new Victoria Premier Ben Carroll earlier in August announced a royal commission into allegations of corruption in the construction industry.

It was “essential” the sector emerged from a turbulent period under new leadership, Ms O’Neil told ABC Radio National in late July.

“Workers who work in the construction industry around this country, by and large, are hardworking, good people who work in tough and dangerous jobs, and they deserve a great union.

“They deserve a union that is completely free of any violence or corruption or organised crime,” she said at the time.

In seven years under Ms Donnelly’s leadership, the CPSU has grown by almost a quarter and is now one of the country’s major unions.

”The average union member is a 44-year-old working mother and so is Melissa,” Ms McManus said in a statement.

”She’s a year younger than I was when I took up the office and represents generational change. With two school aged children and having led a large union, she well knows the pressures working people are under.”

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