Nominations are open for the position until Thursday, November 12, with the executive appointing campaign organiser Leigh Shears as acting secretary from last Friday.

Mr Shears has worked closely with Mr Wallace and both are from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. However at least one powerful union is looking elsewhere and sources said yesterday that a second candidate was likely to emerge.

Mr Wallace acknowledged internal criticisms over his taking Hunter Workers into the Committee for the Hunter, the regional advocacy group chaired by Newcastle solicitor Richard Anicich but said this was not the reason he was going. He had pledged to serve only two terms and now was an appropriate time to bow out.

He said Hunter Workers had doubled its membership and was in a much stronger financial position than when he began as secretary of Newcastle Trades Hall Council in 2014.

He said rebranding trades hall as Hunter Workers had "caught on". Working with groups such as the Hunter committee ensured workers' voices were heard.

He would also finish up with the Hunter committee in November but would continue his role as vice-president of Newcastle Show. He said a position had been made available for a nominee of Hunter Workers to join the show committee.

He would also continue as secretary and chairman of the not-for-profit employment agency Labor Co.

Daniel Wallace's retirement announcement here

Mr Shears, 49, said he had begun his working life as an apprentice boilermaker in Sydney. He had worked in Western Australia and came to Newcastle for the NCIG coal loader construction contract, where he was a union delegate.

"I've had a lot jobs in labour hire over the years and so I come into this job knowing the benefits that secure work offers our members," Mr Shears said.

He believed he had a good relationship with member unions across the political spectrum.

Mr Wallace, 41, began his union career as a 24-year-old organiser. In 2013 he was a Lake Macquarie councillor seeking to replace Greg Combet in Canberra. But details of two historic assault charges surfaced, and he withdrew from the preselection, won by Pat Conroy.

Yesterday, he said the union movement had gained under ACTU secretary Sally McManus.

"People need to know the union movement's contribution to people's payslips," Mr Wallace said, adding that "the digital space" was key to attracting new younger members.

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