One of Wollongong's highest-ranking, longest-serving union officials threw in the towel last week after a career dabbling in politics and fighting for the workers.
Australian Workers' Union (AWU) branch secretary Andy Gillespie spent 41 years in the union after joining at age 18.
During the 1970s he fought BHP - which then owned the Port Kembla steelworks - for safety improvements after a succession of workplace deaths.
"We lost six people in the steel industry in one year," he said.
Mr Gillespie became known as much for his influence in the region's political establishment as for his union work.
He played a key role in elevating Labor MP Anna Watson to the seat of Shellharbour in the March 2011 State election, and recently voiced support for Throsby MP Stephen Jones on same-sex marriage.
"I've always had an interest in the quality of our politicians," he said.
"They haven't always been up to scratch and really, in the end, this is a Labor heartland and it has lost its way and it needs to be reinvigorated."
Mr Gillespie will be replaced by AWU assistant branch secretary Wayne Phillips, with union elections due to be held within 12 months.
Mr Gillespie believes governments have short-changed Wollongong over the years.
"We don't receive enough recognition by the Federal Government for the contribution this area makes to the gross economy," he said.
He said although he was retiring, but would still take an interest in politics.
"I'm not disappearing off the face of the earth ... I'll just have a bit more time on the bowling green," he said.
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