Secretary’s Report Edmundson Mark Reed Alyesha Anderson Jonathan Phillips Luke Clarke Caitlin...

Secretary’s Report

Quarterly General Meeting

26th July 2017

United Voice WA QGM 26th

July 2017 Secretary’s Report 1

This report covers the period since the last Quarterly General Meeting held on 7th December

2016.

1. Finance As of the 31 May 2017 the Union is ($112,104) overspent compared to budget. The 2016/17

YTD budget to May was for a profit of $158,015 and the actual was a surplus of $45,911. The major contributors to this budget position are:

Income YTD is down by 5%, with the main contributor being Membership Contributions

(including Levies).

Expenses YTD is down by 4% with the main contributors being Employment expenses and Financial expenses.

2. Building Report

As reported at the previous Quarterly General Meeting on 7 December 2016, our two agents,

Burgess Rawson and Savills are still advising that the space available within the CBD is directly affecting fringe CBD areas, such as Cheriton St. Every effort is going in to leasing the available space in a very depressed market. The high vacancy rate in Perth has increased over the six

month period to January 2017 to be at the highest level since 1993. The rate increased to 22.5% (up 0.7% from last report).

The Property Council’s latest report finds that “Perth is near the end of a decade-long new office supply pipeline, which has contributed to the high CBD vacancy rate. No major office project is due to come on-line in 2017. In 2018 and beyond the only committed new construction in the

medium term is the 48,484sqm Capital Square project,” Property Council WA Executive Director Lino Iacomella said.

“We can expect the focus of construction activity in 2017 to move to building upgrades and re-

adaption as older buildings face the pressure of much higher vacancies and the competition from new buildings in the Perth CBD.”

The Union is still receiving regular monthly payments from the purchaser of the Augusta property relating to the outstanding debt. Ongoing discussions between the Finance and

Administration Manager and the purchaser are taking place to clear this debt as soon as possible.

The tenancy on the ground floor occupied by the ALP ceased on 16 June. The Union has secured a new tenant for part of the third floor (120sqm) – Host Plus. Their tenancy took effect from 1 May 2017 for a period of 3 years.

3. Staff and Officials

The following permanent officials have left us since December 2016: Juliet Mugambwa

Ornella Mbiya Trista Saville Lee Edmundson

Mark Reed Alyesha Anderson Jonathan Phillips

Luke Clarke Caitlin Goddard



Tracey Baker Yasmin Ahmed

Abbey Tempest Zoey Mcmillan Alexandra Lambert

Bentley Palmer The following officials have been appointed to permanent positions since December 2016:

Jasmine Prasad Luke Skinner

June Congdon Craig Holmes Joanne Aberin

Justine Cipars Marilyn Sarris Marisa Poropat

Phillipa Wood Rachael Osborne Remielle Kelly

Rory Lambert Ryan Naylor

4. Current Staff Responsibilities

A full list of the current permanent allocation of staff and officials is set out below as of 17 July 2017;

* denotes part time employees

AREAS ORGANISERS/OFFICERS INDUSTRIAL OFFICERS

EXECUTIVE Carolyn Smith – Branch Secretary

Pat O’Donnell – Assistant

Secretary

Karma Lord – Assistant Secretary

ORGANISING DIRECTOR Catalina Gonzalez

CAMPAIGNS ORGANISER Jessica Short

MANUFACTURING AND

PROPERTY SERVICES

Lorna Hughes – Lead Organiser

Steven Ellis (Extended Leave)

Craig Holmes

Danielle Craddock – Member

Support Officer

Individuals/Prosecutions/

Underpayments

Individuals/Collective/Bargaining

Naomi Kefford

AGED CARE Fran Hebden – Lead Organiser

Deborah Dalrymple

Jodie Mitchell

Sky Rebbettes-Gordy

Susan Haye

Shirley Cheng

Bronwyn Edgcombe (extended

Leave)

Samantha Day – Member Support

Officer


Underpayments


Clare Tunney



DISABILITIES Sarah Whitaker – Lead Organiser

*Julie Cooper

Mary Gordon

TBA - Member Support Officer


Underpayments


Clare Tunney

HEALTH

Adrian Barrett – Lead Organiser

Tom Sterio – Senior

Rory Lambert

Teneille Zangari

Sharon Brown

Jan Syrek

Justine Cipars

Nancy Tadros – Member Support

Officer


Underpayments


Remi Kelly

EDUCATION & ECEC

Michelle O’Driscoll – Lead

Organiser

Jackie Brown

Jenny Buchanan

Naomie Treloar

Jo Parnell – Member Support

Officer


Underpayments


Jarrad Robb

HOSPITALITY

Emmet Molloy – Lead Organiser

Phillipa Wood

Marilyn Sarris

Jo Parnell – (Crown) Member

Support Officer

Danielle Craddock – Member

Support Officer


Underpayments


Jay Raja

MEMBER SUPPORT TEAM Stephanie Hanrahan – Team Lead

Member Support

Rachael Hughes – Senior Member

Support Officer

Afolabi Adabanyon – (Phone

Reliever) Member Support Officer

Peter MacFarlane – (Phones)

Member Support Officer

CORPORATE AND

POLITICAL CAMPAIGNERS

Dominic Rose – Team Lead

Political & Media

RESEARCH & POLICY Phillipa Clarke

MEDIA OFFICER

MULTI MEDIA OFFICER

PUBLICATIONS OFFICER

DIGITAL ORGANISER

IT

Rachael Osborne

Jasmine Prasad

Luke Skinner

Leanne Harrold



DELEGATE

DEVELOPMENT/TRAINING

*Chanda Parma-Bonta

OUTBOUND CALLING TEAM *Lisa Millsteed (Senior)

*Michael Pestana

SOUTH WEST AND GREAT

SOUTHERN

Brodie Clayton

INDUSTRIAL TEAM

Naomi McCrae – Director

Merna Girgis (Parental Leave).

Remi Kelly

Jarrad Robb

Naomi Kefford

Clare Tunney

UNITED VOICE LEGAL Naomi McCrae – Director

Stefania McGrath

Joanne Aberin

FINANCE &

ADMINISTRATION

MANAGER/OPERATIONS

MANAGER

*Bob Lewtas

Cheryl Hams

FINANCE AND

ADMINISTRATION

Carolina Ingley – Finance

Supervisor

Alessandra Augimeri – People

Services & Finance Officer

Michelle Carroll – Finance Officer

Julie Horrigan – Executive

Assistant to CS & RL

Rhoda Cabusi – Senior

Operations Officer

*Asmaa Elghani – Reception

*Michelle Creasy – Fleet

Coordinator

Anne Teo – Industrial Admin &

United Voice Legal

*Terri Horrigan – Industrial Admin

Vicky Farrell - South West Admin

Assistant

*Mairead Dawson-O’Donnell –

Operations Officer

*Sandra Vilardi – Operations

Officer

Diana Serinas – Operations

Officer

Freedom Patene – Operations

Officer (Parental Leave)

*Marisa Poropat - United Voice

Legal Practice Manager

Sarah Gebrat – Legal Secretary



MEMBERSHIP Karen Slattery– Operations Team

Lead

Ginny Stubbs (Senior)

* Pam Angove (Senior)

Cherie Hill

Eden Tumbaga

Troy Peck

CLEANERS

*Lucy Gdowski

*Jo Trigwell

*Suzanne Cook



5. Membership

As at 30th June 2017, the membership of the WA Branch stands at 18,334. The graph below

reflects both total membership and financial membership.



Members Make It Happen

6. Health

For the first part of 2017, United Voice members in Health were focused heavily on the

election. Repairing the damage done by the policies of the Liberal Government was the biggest change that was needed in the Public Health System.

In the months leading up to the election, United Voice members had won important commitments from WA Labor around:

Permanent secure employment

Reversing privatisation where possible

Respecting the role of United Voice members in hospitals

Changing the culture of the Health Department

To support the election of the WA Labor government, United Voice members in Hospitals ran a comprehensive organising campaign.

Delegates were released from all hospitals for Burgundy Wave organising and turnout to a series of member meetings in all key hospitals.

This culminated in a major public meeting at RPH which called for a McGowan Labor Government to be elected to fix public Hospitals.



Priorities Post-Election

After the election, United Voice members have been focused on two things, getting a new

Union Agreement in place and securing permanent employment.

The United Voice Log of Claims focused on three things:

Repairing the damage caused in our hospitals by two terms of a Barnett Government

The unfinished business of Union members in Government Hospitals

The little things count. For too long the Health Department have used every opportunity to make life difficult for United Voice members and the agreement needs to be fixed up.

In addition to that, members are focused on securing a short term fix to the scourge of a casualised workforce. This is happening in three stages:

1. United Voice members are insisting on a review to immediately identify open

positions that should be staffed by permanent staff.

2. All eligible staff (casuals, fixed term contract and permanent part timers) are

meeting with United Voice to understand the process to fill jobs.



3. United Voice will be running sessions on Resume Writing, Interview Skills and Cover Letter writing to make sure that United Voice members are the best prepared for

when jobs are advertised.

And the Other Work Keeps Happening

Making the most of a WA Labor win is a key part of the work now however United Voice

members are still working to improve conditions in every way possible from delegate planning days with SCGH and St John Ambulance, getting ready for bargaining at Ramsey Health Care and SJA Comms and Transport, United Voice members are leaving no stone unturned.

St John Ambulance Paramedics Putting Together a 12 Month Plan for Bargaining

Charlies Delegates Planning to Build a Stronger Union Presence



7. MAPS

Wilson Security - United Voice Win

Wilson Security is one of the largest security providers in WA and across Australia and NZ, yet

it is also one of the worst for staff pay and conditions. Wilson Security has been operating under an old work choices style agreement since 2009 which unfortunately meant that their employees were forced to endure those conditions.

This has now come to an end. In October 2016 United Voice acting on behalf of a member Andrew May, applied to terminate the old work choices agreement and have staff paid under

the modern award. In preparation for this case it was discovered that Wilson Security had been incorrectly paying some of its employees since March 2014. Wilson was informed of this but instead of rushing to rectify their error they instead applied to Fair Work to have the 2009 work

choices agreement cover ALL of their staff. On 16th March 2017, after months of hard work by the United Voice industrial team, we went to a tribunal at Fair Work. It was an all day affair

with our industrial team up against a Sydney based industrial law firm. On Friday 6th July 2017 the decision was handed down. The United Voice Andrew May application to terminate the 2009 Wilson agreement was

successful. This also meant the failure of the Wilson Security application. This means that now ALL Wilson Security guards are covered by the

Security services award. Unfortunately Wilson Security has not learned their lesson and they still have not paid the back pay due to many employees and are already breaching award conditions.

Bakery update

On 1st July 2017 after many years the Buttercup Bakery in Malaga closed its doors making over 70 staff redundant. Buttercup bread will now be made by Tip Top instead.

Our Delegates at Tip Top have been working hard and are keeping an eye on how this works. They have also been building power at the site through increase of membership and new

Delegates. Preparation has begun for bargaining later this year.

ISS

After over 8 months of negotiations, ISS have put an agreement out for the approval of its staff.

Within this agreement United Voice Delegates and members have won:

• Sign on bonus of 2% backdated to 1st November 2016

• 2% pay increase in 2017, 2018, 2019

• Fairer roster systems with a review committee created and increased minimum hours

• 3 days paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave

• New 2IC Classification

• Supervisors pay increase

It is now up to the staff at ISS Security to accept or reject this offer.



Negotiations

MSS PTA has gone out to vote. The offer is 2.5% for 2017 then 2% 2018 and 2% 2019. The RTBU was also at the table. It was an interesting time.

Spotless Murdoch is underway. The first offer put to staff was for 1%. Not acceptable. The Delegates have stepped up well with a negotiating team of 5 from different areas and different shifts. Unfortunately the Spotless negotiating team have little or no experience in this process

which has slowed down negotiations.

MSS PTA and Coca Cola will both be beginning bargaining soon. The negotiating teams have attended training at United Voice and the Log of Claims has been written and endorsed.

We are fired up and ready to go!!!!

8. Hospitality Crown

It has been a tough time for members at Crown since the previous QGM report. Business has

been down at Crown which is directly related to the scandal in China. This has led to

redundancies in many departments which include:

Table Games - 50

Security – 4

Food and Beverage, 9 Lounge – 6

However there were some significant wins for members who went through this process. Crown

initially announced that there would be forced redundancies in Table Games. Members fought

this and due to Union strength were able to make sure that redundancies would be voluntary

only. Members were instead offered a lower position while receiving a partial redundancy based



on their previous position. In security members were able to also win a partial redundancy for

those who choose to take a lower position. For 9 Lounge members we were able to win an

extra two weeks’ pay on top of the offered package.

Crown is still at a low point with hours for part timer’s being reduced with members now

receiving the lowest hours for their ‘bracket’. This is making the retention of members very hard

due to the significant reduction in take home pay. Morale is very low which is also making it very

hard to recruit off the floor.

Compounding these issues is the fact that Crown has also stopped recruiting as many new staff

as they had previously. Inductions, where most new members come from, have been reduced

from weekly to fortnightly. Previously inductions numbers were 20 plus per week, now it is on

average 8 per fortnight. The vast majority of new starters are casuals in food and beverage who

have always been difficult to recruit.

The upside is we now have some stability in the team with a new team lead and two new

organisers have been appointed. This will allow the team to refocus on issues and areas that

will help with retention of members. Over the next six months the team will be focusing on

penalty rates, parking and contracting out of services.

Penalty rates for Sundays are being reduced across the hospitality sector. This will make the

penalty rates, which Crown members have fought for, even harder to retain during next

bargaining. This issue is even more pressing considering that there are staff who work at Crown

Hotels, working for AHS, who have had their penalty rates cut already. Organisers will start

working with AHS members to demand that AHS maintain penalty rates at the pre July rates.

Another ongoing issue that we will be organising around is the issue of parking. Members are

looking at the possibility of having to pay for parking in the future due to the opening of the new

Stadium. This essentially means that members will be taking a pay cut. This issue is even more

important to members now that hours are being reduced across the board. Delegates will be

meeting with Crown management early August to demand an answer.

9. Early Childhood Education and Care BigstepsNow Campaign 2017

United Voice ERO Case

United Voice Members’ Equal Remuneration Order (ERO) still awaiting outcome of case but

has had a positive move towards an outcome. The FWA Commission has recommended United

Voice Legal show in the ERO case evidence that reflects need for comparable wages of a male

dominated industry.

On 25th July in Brisbane there will be face to face consultations held with ECEC leaders from all

branches regarding a 10 year policy vision. Sally Whitaker, Director at Leederville Early

Learning Centre and Lindsay Poggenpoel, Director at Subicare, will represent WA ECEC

members in formulating a policy to reflect the next stages in the Bigsteps National Campaign.

Crisis for WA Community Centre Funding

Last year when the WA Liberal State Government notified 33 community based, not for profit

services of their intention to withdraw support for services by June 2018, for many services, this

meant possible closure.



On 7/6/17, Simone McGurk, newly elected Labor Minister, hosted a meeting with United Voice and 12 Community Centre representatives to focus on what support would be needed for centres affected by

funding cuts

Petitioning State Parliament, lobbying alongside the then Shadow Minister, Simone McGurk and participating in public actions and participating in United Voice Burgundy Wave Brigade saw a

change in State Government with a new focus and commitment for all ECEC Community Centres affected by Barnett’s cuts.

ECEC United Voice action outside Wiggles concert 21/11/16 for recognition of the Barnett’s attack on

Community Centre funding



9/3/17 saw Goodstart Mt Nasura United Voice members “Walk off the job for Equal Pay” for Educators

MercyCare Early Learning Centres Bargaining began this year for the 5 centres of MercyCare ELC. The negotiations have seen a

slow start to bargaining with MercyCare maintaining a tough stance against Educators being heard and their claim being fairly reviewed.

On 10 July 2017, MercyCare put forward an offer for employees to consider and respond to by 12pm, 14 July 2017.

MercyCare is offering two key items:

1. A ‘one–off’ pay increase of 1.5% backdated to 1 July 2016; and

2. Removal of the Christmas closure clause. What this offer means:

United Voice is concerned that under the proposed offer:

Members will not receive any further pay rise until 2020 when they negotiate a further

agreement - despite living costs increasing every year - in 2017, 2018 and 2019

MercyCare has the ability to roster staff on during the Christmas break and weekends

The current entitlement to staff discounts can be taken away

While employees must be committed to MercyCare they will not pay staff to attend staff meetings

Employees will not receive any additional but much needed non-contact time

Part-time employees will not have certainty over their hours each day and days of work

Employees will have just 3 months to use their TOIL instead of 6 months

Casual employees will continue to receive a 20% loading instead of 25%

Employees will not receive any family and domestic violence leave



MercyCare has rejected nearly all claims made by the Union and Independent Bargaining Reps. They have threatened to remove 2 weeks of employees current annual leave if they seek a better pay offer.

MERCYCARE EDUCATORS DESERVE BETTER!

United Voice recommends a counter offer is made of:

1. A pay increase each year in addition to the 1.5% from 1 July 2016 of:

2.5% 1 July 2018; and

2.5% 1 July 2019

2. No trade off to annual leave

With the vast majority of members saying they wanted to reject the offer, United Voice met with management on Friday 14 July 2017 to voice members’ concerns and reject the offer. Of the independent bargaining representatives from Bedford, Heathridge, Seville Grove, Thornlie and

Wembley, three out of five centres rejected the offer. We are waiting to hear from management about next steps. To date MercyCare refuse to schedule further meetings.

Jobs you can count on. 10. Education

State Election 2017 and United Voice Burgundy Wave

Since January 2017, hundreds of education Delegates attended specific training and

participated in various political activities as the Burgundy Wave Brigade. This active group of

United Voice Delegates worked nonstop right up to and beyond the March 11th election to

become the formidable force that returned the Labor Party to State Government.

House Visiting, phone calling, leafletting thousands of constituents in various electorates like;

Swan Hills, Morley, Joondalup, Bunbury, Fremantle, Southern River Perth, Kalamunda,

Wanneroo and Burns Beach, to name a few. Their energy and determination shone as a

leading example of Union people power and what it can achieve. Well done Burgundy Wave

Brigade.



Burgundy Wave….Union Power….Political Power . (Bye Bye Barnett)

Government Schools around the state participated in the Education support workers “Hands up

for Change” Campaign. Decorating dish washing gloves to visually express their want for

political change in WA State parliament.

Beckenham Primary School won the honour of being the school on a picture to be presented to

Sue Ellery, our new Minister for Education and Training, to be hung in her state office as a

symbol of the workers, the students and the families she represents in schools and the

commitments of the Labor party.

“A Fresh Approach”

Beckenham P.S. Winners of the “Hands up for Change” Glove Competition

Post-Election

Mark McGowan’s State Labor Government went to the election with 3 main election promises

for WA school support staff and the commitment to United Voice members:

No support staff will live under the threat of our schools being further privatised

A commitment to review employment and financial practises in IPS

A commitment to move more fixed-term contracts to permanent jobs



Next Steps for Members the School Year 2017

Over the last 4 months the team has worked hard in schools delivering the message of Labor’s

commitments to their election promises. Recruitment at PQMs and Inductions over the last two terms has yielded more than 200 new members to the Union.

Over school Terms 3 and 4, with more than 2000 support staff on Fixed Term Contracts, the team along with 6-8 member organisers will launch a FTC Campaign in more than 600 schools

to assist new and current Union members on FTCs, eligible for permanency, to gain permanent jobs in schools.

Jobs you can count on.

United Voice Working Party

There are 42 United Voice Delegates on the United Voice Working Party representing members

across the state in Government schools working hard with The Department of Education to resolve issues that affect our members in Government schools. Twice a term these Delegates take turns meeting with the department to address our members concerns leading up to the

next negotiations.

Issues identified:

Gardeners - JDF and gardening formula - IPS use of gardeners outside their JDF

Cleaners - Equipment upgrade

- JDF review EAs

- Violence towards staff - Update JDFs to reflect current roles - Use of fixed term contracts

- IPS and supernumerary employees - Staff ratios and EA prep time in Kindy/PP - Role of AIEOs in schools



United Voice Burgundy Wave Education Delegates

Now the work starts to make sure that election promises are delivered on. United Voice

members need to keep building on the work that has happened already to ensure that our

schools are staffed by long term, permanent workers that are committed to a quality public

school system.

Fired Up Ready to Go!

https://webmail.unitedvoice.org.au/owa/?ae=Item&t=IPM.Note&id=RgAAAAAkCnspHJ7AQbzGCK1hhqUBBwDKLo6iB3fAQ5W5ddnobTg8AAAA8q%2bzAABqjCh8X/QMT5KHxs/JKM0ZANrZr3JOAAAJ&cb=0



11. Aged Care

Aged Care National Campaign “Our Turn to Care”

Aged Care have been working towards a national campaign called “Our Turn to Care” . This campaign has been in the planning and organising stages for over 12 months and finally we

have arrived at the start. The campaign is about changing the community’s perspective of aged care and changing the

Governments lack of commitment to the funding of aged care. Over the past 3 years billions of dollars have been taken by the Federal Government from the

Aged Care budget. This has a profound impact on the aged care industry from the top all the way down.

This campaign will be measured by the change in Governments attitude and action towards aged care funding and by the communities understanding of what aged care is about. We want to lift the recognition and respect of aged care and the workers in this industry. We are just starting tap

off meetings with the first employer this month (July). EBA Negotiations

Aegis and Braemar have been completed and voted up

Juniper residential and community EAs have been completed and voted up

Hall and Prior is about to start negotiations

Catholic Homes is about to start

General

The staff have all been doing intensive training for the past month getting ready for this campaign

to start. The training is essential to have everyone prepared to hit the ground running and we

have seen this pay off. The team also did a team building exercise by doing a bush walk together

and being in pairs to help each other. This was a very helpful process in learning to be able to

rely on each other and help each other.

It also gave us a great opportunity to work through the Aged Care National Campaign “Our Turn

to Care” plan in an uninterrupted and natural environment where the only thing on everyone’s

mind was this amazing campaign.

This also meant the team needed to grow in numbers of organisers and we have been able to

welcome back several past organisers who have been excited to rejoin the aged care team.



12. Disabilities

Goodbye and Good Luck Wanita!

The D.I.D group and the team would like to say Thank You, Good Bye and Good Luck to Wanita McDade, a great friend and dedicated Delegate who has recently moved over to Queensland. Wanita has been a long term member of the Disability Delegates group, as well as the Branch

Executive and was always ready to speak out on behalf of workers and the sector, support her fellow Delegates and campaign for quality jobs and care within disabilities. We wish her the best of luck!

NDIS Campaign

In April, Delegates were involved in a campaign to get the new Labor State Government to slow down and look at all the facts before making a final decision on which funding model the state would go forward with for people with disabilities. The previous Liberal Government signed an

agreement for a state model, (WA NDIS) without any consultation with key stakeholders, including people with disabilities and support workers.

The new Labor Sate Government had to decide to keep a state based model (WA NDIS) or go with the Federal model (NDIS) and whilst there are a vocal number of people with disabilities campaigning for NDIS, as a Union we have very real concerns for what it means for workers and

the impact on quality of care, especially for people with complex needs. In the Eastern States, where NDIS has already started rolling out, there are reports of increased

casualisation of the workforce and lowering of wages to meet the levels specified in NDIS rates. This would have a potentially disastrous effect for our members, who are paid some $2-5 an hour more than the rate accounted for in NDIS funding, meaning significant shortfalls in funding

vs. wages costs. Whilst we don’t have a preference on either model of funding, we do want whatever is implemented to address the concerns that workers have on pay rates, job secur ity and quality and we engaged Delegates and members to contact MP’s and the Minister to tell

them that. Over 5 days of calls to members, Delegates were able to attempt 628 calls, have 241

conversations with members and get 48 people to agree to contact their MP.



Delegates with Cassie Rowe MLA

UV Delegate, Lamia with Minister Stephen Dawson

Delegates also contacted other Delegates, visited sites and spoke to people who were working, gave out flyers and encouraged their co-workers to contact MP’s, called and visited MP’s and

went to events where MP’s were present and used the opportunity to speak to them there. Although the scheme was meant to roll out on 1

st July, there is still no final decision on what

model WA will go with, which indicates that the Minister and Government has taken concerns seriously and are considering what the best way forward is to meet the needs of people with disabilities as well as ensure that workers have access to secure quality jobs through which they

can provide quality care.



Inductions

The team has trialed new messages and been much more structured with planning and preparation for inductions. They have also encouraged Delegates to attend inductions wherever possible and this has increased, although there is still more work to be done to try and get a

Delegate to attend every induction, so that new workers can hear directly from another worker the importance of the Union in their workplace / sector.

Overall, our sign up of new members at inductions has increased by 10% from last year but it has not been consistent at each induction. At some we do very well, exceeding our 50% target, but others do not go well. We are currently reviewing this to see if there are some key things

(other than Delegate attendance, which does definitely make a difference) that happen or don’t happen when we don’t meet our 50% sign up goal.

Membership Membership remains steady with the team experiencing modest growth across the first 6 months

of the year. There is work that we are planning to trial on retention of members through increasing our

touches with them; in the workplace, via external meetings or events and by increasing both the amount and method of communication that they receive.

We are also reviewing our resignation processes and putting in place systematic follow up of avoidable resignations (i.e. people who haven’t left work, the sector etc., but have just stopped their membership) by Delegates and organisers.

Currently 42% of resignations are either avoidable or for a reason unknown. We are aiming to reduce this number via trying new retention strategies and systematically following up recent

resignations to try and re-sign them up. Bargaining

The Identity EBA was registered and workers have received their first pay rise under it. The Ability EBA was due to expire on July 1

st and Delegates were geared up ready to bargain,

when Ability asked for the current agreement to be rolled over for a year, with a 1.5% pay increase. This is due to the current uncertainty within the sector as to which funding model will be in place and what that will mean to organisations and their finances. Following consultation with

Delegates and speaking with members at training meetings, it was agreed that this would be the right way forward.

13. South West Following on from the success of the Don Punch campaign in Bunbury and subsequently the

largest single swing to any of the Labor candidates that saw an end to the Barnett Liberal

campaign, Don Punch is extremely grateful for all the support he received from the members and

officials. A key part of this was the volunteer support on doors, phones, letterboxes, polling booth

day, but in particular the “Super Saturday BBQ and Doorknock Burgandy Wave Action” which did

see over 700 doors knocked in one day. It was a truly effective demonstration of member and

official activity playing an integral part of change we all wanted and needed to see in WA.

The Government Education District Delegates meeting was also very successful in which

Michelle O’Driscoll was able to come down to Bunbury and conduct this physically which

translated well to a very clear message for Delegates around the election victory but also



provided a platform to commence building Union strength again through the meeting by asking

Delegates what they would like to see more of. Overwhelmingly all 23 Delegates present said

that local based Delegate training was something that they could benefit from without having to

complete the long journey to Perth and back over two days. Subsequently we are now on track

to deliver the Delegate intro training with Chanda Parma Bonta coming down to deliver the

course content in late August. We have 17 registrations so far to attend from Government

Education and Health many of which have never had the opportunity to participate before. It was

great to have Don Punch come down in person to thank members and the Union and committed

to where possible attending future events.

Through late May and into July we have held approximately 50 Government Education PQM’s at

schools reaching from the Bunbury region to Augusta. As a result of this we have had new

Delegate nominations from sites where there previously were none, some new member growth

and some new contacts made. Government Health QGM’s are underway now and will be

completed by July 20th

taking in every hospital in the southwest and great southern. It is very

evident at these meetings that workers are very relieved at seeing the previous Government

kicked out and are now looking forward to the McGowan Labor government delivering on those

key election commitments. For State Government employee’s this is around job security,

addressing casualisation in workplaces and insecure work overall, but also doing something

about the damage done over 8 and a half years of an employer stripping away rights and

devaluing agreements.

The southwest region is the largest populated region outside of the Perth metro area consisting

of many schools and hospitals, aged care facilities and child care, that for a fair period of time

have not had dedicated organising resources dedicated to them. There is accordingly substantial

ongoing work that needs to take place to build new member growth, leader structures and

rapport building which won’t happen overnight. I am happy with the amount of activity in terms of

all these areas of work since being based down here for the last 4 months. We have

approximately 45 new members, 15 new Delegates and 7 new contacts, across Education,

Health and Aged Care. It is a real privilege to be able to work with members in country areas and

I look forward to being able to continue this work into the future.

14. Development and Training

“We need to build a movement that encompasses not only economics but equality and equity

inside the system, and also be allowed to have some reconciliation around what happened in the

past” Tory Russell, Hands Up United, Ferguson, Missouri.

This report highlights the breadth, diversity, commitment and talent our Union encompasses as

our member leaders impart their knowledge, experience and stories, sharing the complexities of

their lived experience and building on this with training tools, strategies and frameworks to assist

them to create powerful, vibrant and visible Union organisation within their worksites and

industries.

The table below demonstrates actual courses attended by Delegates.



Delegate Training Statistics 2017

INDUSTRY 14th -15th

Mar INTRO

2nd - 3rd May

INTRO

17th - 18th

May ADV

20th - 21st

Jun INTRO

Team Totals

Aged Care 1 1 1 0 3

ECEC 0 0 0 0 0

Disabilities 0 1 1 0 2

Education 5 4 8 8 25

Health 1 0 1 3 5

Hospitality 4 2 2 1 9

MAPS 0 1 1 2 4

Other (UV) 0 1 0 0 1

TOTAL 11 10 14 14 49

Our Member Leaders – Feedback from Training

“Giving me the confidence to stand up and be counted” - Sherri Beardman (West Morley Primary

School).

“I am proud that I can help to make my workplace a healthy environment” - Natasia Veerasamy

(Crown F&B).

“Feeling like there is always support” – Tracey Blake (Coolbinia Primary School).

“I’ll apply what I’ve learnt through using problem solving techniques, communicating and talking

to new people at my hospital” – Anwer Mohammed (Sir Charles Gardner Hospital).

“I’m going to get more staff involved” – Emmanual Fefey (Ramsey Health Private Hospital).

“Understanding that the Union’s scope of work is so varied across so many industries puts things

in perspective in relation to my own Industry issues” – Jenny MarcinKus (Coodanup College).

“I’ll be setting up a network of members and Delegates at Aegis” – Brian Buick (Aegis, Age

Care).

Our Languages Matter the 2017 theme for NAIDOC week which aims to emphasize and

celebrate the unique and essential role that Indigenous languages play in cultural identity, linking

people to their land and water and in the transmission of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

history, spirituality and rites, through story and song. The importance of language can also be

seen in our workplaces and communities.

We are Linguistically Diverse

Our workplaces, members and potential members are culturally and linguistically diverse!

Connections, stories and experiences from near and far are exchanged, welcomed and are what

build our vibrant Union.



In 2017, here’s a snapshot of the countries some of our Delegates came to training from.

Country City, Town, District Languages Other than

English /Dialect

Australia WA - Manjimup, Northam, Metro

NSW – Darlinghurst, Sydney

VICTORIA – Ringwood

SA - Adelaide

Eritrea (East Africa) Asmera Arabic

England Manchester

Germany Berlin German

Kenya (East Africa) Nairobi Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi,

Swahili

Liberia (West Africa) Ganta Soso, French

Mauritius French, Creole

Malaysia Seremban Malay, Cantonese

New Zealand Waikato (North Island)

Taupo Maori

Philippines Pampanga Tagalog

Manila Tagalog, Visaya

South Africa

Moving Forward

We live and work in exciting and often challenging times. How we build an inclusive Union is a

relevant question for our Branch.

How we remain relevant to our existing membership and how we position ourselves to be

relevant to new and emerging groups of workers across our diverse industries is critical as we

plan, campaign, organise and build our movement.

15. Media/Political

Political

State Election

Well the big news is that we now have a brand new State Labor Government. March 11 saw a

massive swing against the Liberal Government, a huge part of which can be attributed to the

work of United Voice members phoning, door knocking and campaigning in the twelve month

lead up.

United Voice campaigning was crucial to changing the Government. Over 1 in 4 calls made

during the Election Campaign were made out of Cheriton St, and Burgundy Wave members

knocked on thousands of doors all across the State.

Congratulations to the following United Voice members on their election:

Lisa Baker – Maylands

John Carey – Perth

Roger Cook – Kwinana

Janine Freeman – Mirrabooka



Emily Hamilton – Joondalup

Terry Healy – Southern River

Matthew Hughes – Kalamunda

Dave Kelly – Bassendean

Simone McGurk – Fremantle

Lisa O’Malley – Bicton

Amber-Jade Sanderson – Morley

Jessica Shaw – Swan Hills

Chris Tallentire – Thornlie

Sabine Winton – Wanneroo

Sue Ellery – South Metro

Darren West – Agricultural

Pierre Yang – South Metro

We look forward to working with these State MPs and the entire WA Labor Government to

ensure we have good quality, permanent jobs and a better future than was promised under Colin

Barnett!

State Conference

Over August 26-27, WA Labor will be holding its first State Conference since being elected. This

will be a great opportunity to make sure the new Government is implementing good policy on

Education, Health, Disabilities, Aged Care and many other industries.

It will also be an important opportunity for the Party to begin setting up the campaign against the

Turnbull Liberal Government, with agenda items focused on penalty rates, changing the rules on

industrial relations law and getting multinationals to pay their fair share of tax.

Communications

There has been significant change over in the Media and Communications space, with Rachael

Osborne and Jasmine Prasad stepping up into the respective roles. The new team is bringing

some new ideas and approaches to how we can best communicate with Union members and the

wider community.

Media

Since the last QGM, media has been focused on the State Election and highlighting key issues

facing a number of our members.

Stories which have attracted media attention include underpayments at Geraldton Hospital, the

Government’s new wages policy, the termination of a WorkChoices era agreement at Wilsons

Security, the State Government’s announcement of 300 new Education Assistant positions in

WA Schools and the Federal Government’s continued attacks on Penalty Rates.

Communications

Communications, both physical and digital, have been focused on supporting our various

organising and industry teams. Particular focus has been on assisting with major campaigns in

Aged Care and the Our Turn to Care campaign, the national Penalty Rates campaign and Jobs

You Can Count On campaigns, creating organising tools and communications for our

permanency campaigns in Health and Education, and ensuring members know about the



decision to not increase Union Fees this year.

Research and Policy

Research and Policy work at the Union at the start of the year was focused on policy work

around the State Election. The work of the team ensured that United Voice was able to provide

comprehensive and sophisticated policy work and win significant election commitments such as

commitments to permanency and increased numbers of EAs in schools.

Post the election, research has been focused on the many State and Federal Government

reviews and inquiries that have begun. Since the election, the Union has made a number of

comprehensive submissions, most notably:

The Commission of Inquiry into the Previous Governments contracts, particularly Fiona

Stanley Hospital and Serco

The Priority Public Service Review – particularly looking at how permanency creates

better service delivery and how cutting funding is not always the answer

NDIS Code of Conduct

St John Ambulance Health and Wellbeing Progress Audit

WA Labor State Conference Agenda items across the entire WA Labor Platform

While there are a number of new faces within the Media and Political team, the transition over the past few months has been seamless with people keen and eager to take up new challenges and responsibilities. The team is looking forward to the rest of the (potentially election free) year

and working with members to build our Union’s workplace, political and community power. 16. Conclusion

This is the first (written) QGM report since Labor won the State election as our last GQM was the

week after the election and we gave a brief verbal report and then had a party!

Since the election, United Voice members have been working with the new government to

ensure election commitments to improve their working lives are implemented. Whilst this is

sometimes slower than we would all like, and there have been some challenges because of the

terrible economic circumstances the Barnett government left the state in, we are starting to see

the changes.

Next month, Health members will be part of a process reviewing the unacceptably high number

of casuals in hospitals to make more staff permanent. This process will also roll out in schools.

We have also seen 300 new EAs and AIEO positions announced for schools.

Disability members have been campaigning to ensure that whatever version of the NDIS is

implemented in WA, whether State or Federal, that there is sufficient funding to ensure good jobs

and therefore quality care for people with disabilities.

We need to keep working with Labor to ensure they work to make life better for our members, as

government employees, as staff employed on government contracts in disabilities, security or

cleaning or as WA community members.

Across the country, we see two important, almost contradictory things happening for workers.

The first is an aggressive, anti-Union push by conservative governments and employers. For the

first time in over 100 years, workers have lost a major entitlement in their Awards with the “Fair”

Work Commission cutting Sunday penalty rates for Hospitality and Retail workers. We see



employers applying successfully to cancel agreements and put their workers back onto the

Award, resulting in cuts in wages of up to 30% and the slowest ever wage growth on record. In

day to day bargaining and in the workplace we see employers taking a much more aggressive

approach.

At the same time and possibly because of these things, there is a growing feeling across the

community that Australia is a less fair place than it has been, that inequality is growing and that

younger people are seeing a life with less job security and less chance to take part in home

ownership and other things we have long seen as part of a decent life.

The Union movement has been campaigning strongly on inequality, the need for a better tax

system and a better system of industrial relations so workers can again get a fair piece of the

Australian economy.

This week Bill Shorten has come out saying Labor will fight the next election on the issues of

inequality. This is incredibly hopeful. With political allies, Unions can be part of a movement for

change, for fairness and for a better future for workers in this country.

In Unity

Carolyn Smith State Secretary - WA



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