The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) hosted a farewell tribute to Allan Sargent at Geelong Trades Hall on June 14, presenting him with a lifetime membership award for his nearly five decades of dedication and service to the union movement.
Allan’s family, friends and comrades from various unions, as well as members of Socialist Alliance, attended.
Former CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith presented the award, and several spoke of Allan’s many accomplishments. Lisa Zanatta, women’s organiser for the CFMEU Vic/Tas Branch, fondly recalled Allan being her first union organiser in the Building Workers Industrial Union (BWIU). She said he was a staunch advocate for women’s equality, always respectful and someone who could be relied on for help. She said Allan was a role model for young workers starting out in the building industry.
Although he trained at a young age as a mechanic, Allan could turn his hand to any trade. It meant he had the ability to reinvent himself many times over.
Having learnt the building trade from his father, Allan later became a farmer in Victoria’s Western District. He even tried professional boxing and was an accomplished poet and artist. He built a rich and fulfilling life along with his wife Lyn and three children.
Allan was never far from politics, joining Labor in 1975. He worked as a research officer from 1978 to 1985 for Victorian Senator Cyril Primmer, while maintaining his farm and providing for his young family.
He became a union organiser for the BWIU (which later merged into the CFMEU) in 1985 until 1992. During this period, he became secretary of the South West District Trades and Labour Council (SWDTLC), a position he held for five-and-a-half years. For three of those, he was also Victorian Provincial Trades and Labour Councils Association secretary.
In 1988, Allan became a credentialed delegate of the BWIU/CFMEU, beginning his relationship with the Geelong Trades Hall Council (GTHC). He later served as a SWDTLC fraternal delegate, until his death on June 28.
Even though Allan was nearing the end of his life after a long battle with cancer, he attended his last meeting on May 6 — testament to his stoicism and dedication to the working class.
One of Allan’s great legacies is his book .
It was a labour of love; he spent countless hours poring through archives, conducting interviews and combing through the GTHC minutes. It is a brilliant account of not just GTHC’s history, but Australia’s rich union history and workers’ struggle, including some quirky, early stories about individual disputes in craft unions.
Allan was a long-term and highly valued member of Socialist Alliance, joining in 2003. He donated his extensive book collection to the Socialist Alliance Geelong branch, making it available for others to study and learn from.
Allan was a true intellect, a humble and kind person, and he is sorely missed. He is survived by Lyn, three children, Doug, Karl and Jody, siblings Fred and Barbara and six grandchildren.
[The author acknowledges the help of Doug Sargent in writing this obituary. Copies of Allan Sargent’s are available through Geelong Trades Hall.]