The USU’s Summer 2018 edition of United has been sent to members. Check it out.
General Secretary
Graeme Kelly
If you are anything like me you are probably wondering where 2018 went. One moment the year is beginning and the next we are planning our New Year’s resolutions.
December is a time for looking back over the year but more importantly it is a time for looking forward.
That is exactly what we do every day as union officials. We look back with pride on a movement that has delivered for workers for over 100 years, but our priority is focusing on the future.
Our Conference is an opportunity for our Branch delegates to plan our direction for the future. From the workers of today and how to achieve a fair go right now, to the workers of tomorrow and how we can ensure a better world.
This is what the Change the Rules campaign is about. The rules for working Australians in this country are broken and the people who can – and will – fix them, is us.
You might ask how? What difference can I make? Alone – perhaps very little, but together we are all powerful.
This edition of United is full of your achievements, starting on page 4 with a great win for Upper Lachlan Shire Council members who stood up and said NO to unfair restructuring that would cost jobs.
We have wins on Domestic Violence Leave with the City of Newcastle coming on board. We see strength building at workplaces like HCF. We are seeing re-building in the Energy Industry.
We see our fantastic delegate network @ work, delivering in places like Wellington, Byron Shire Council and Lake Macquarie.
These are just some of the victories we have achieved together in 2018. This journal also showcases our Award winning delegates, with special mention to our Delegate of the Year Coby Rooimans, our great apprentice and mentor of the year, Jack Moy and Stephen Stanton, as well as outlining some of the terrific benefits of belonging to our great union.
Lastly – and far from least – in this edition we also celebrate our contributions to the community we live in. In August we once again took part in the Winter Sleepout raising over $16,000 for Youth Off the Streets and just this week we wrapped up the Share the Dignity “It’s in the bag” campaign collecting over 1,100 bags to assist women who are homeless or victims of domestic violence have some dignity this Christmas.
The campaign was co-ordinated by our fantastic Women’s Committee and the response by our members – both female and male, both metro and regional was nothing short of amazing.
It makes me enormously proud to wrap up the year with such a success and I thank every member who took part in making this campaign such an overwhelming success.
Graeme Kelly
USU General Secretary
