UNION DELEGATES ARE A CRUCIAL PART OF THE UNION!

BY BRENDON LOTT –INDUSTRIAL OFFICER

If you’re an existing Store Delegate or just new to the role, your Union and your workmates thank you!

The overwhelming response when I ask Delegates why they became a Delegate is “to help people. To help workmates, teammates, the new workers and the ones that have an issue they need support or advice with.”

Providing help and support can come in many ways and doesn’t need to take much of your time as a Store Delegate. The Union understands you have a life/work balancing act going on, so any time you can guide or assist your work colleagues is important.

There are Delegates that have less distractions at this time in their life and can be more active in Union business. Whilst other Delegates do the best that they can with the time they have available.

Delegates most often are those team members that the rest of the team gravitate to when they have questions or troubles. They are a good listener and provide good guidance.

A Delegate is a confidante: a friend or associate to whom secrets are confided or with whom private matters and problems can be discussed.

The process of verbally sharing what is bothering you gives you a sense of psychological relief and makes you feel better and as a result may make the issue seem smaller or less severe.

Delegates can help you with ‘next steps’ to resolve your issue, and they always have SDA Organisers on hand to guide them with the best course of action.

Our Organisers and Recruiters in the field are always on the lookout for activists and Delegates to be a part of the team that helps your workmates, as well as keep the Union presence strong in Newcastle, Central Coast and the Hunter.

Equally, we ask Delegates to be on the lookout too.

You can have multiple Delegates in any retail, fast food or warehouse. The spread of hours, different departments and jobs, the size of the business are all reasons for multiple Delegates in the one business.

The more active Delegates in your store, means a shared role. The more, the merrier!

Delegate Training 2023

The SDA Newcastle & Northern developed two Delegate training courses to assist, nurture and interact with Store Delegates: l Introduction Session: 3 hours duration l Level 1 Training: 2 days duration

These training sessions are facilitated by an SDA Industrial Officer at the Newcastle Office, Central Coast and Hunter Valley venues.

Introduction session (3 hours)

Ideally, Delegates must attend in the first three months of being appointed.

This course is an overview of the Union, Union values, the role of the Delegate, and their behaviour and rights.

We cover the Delegates manual, Agreement/Awards, some frameworks for rostering issues, and problem-solving techniques.

It is a group setting to meet other Delegates and network.

Level 1 Training (2 days)

A group of up to 24 Delegates can attend these very active, involved, hands-on workshops that move through a range of topics and activities.

Competition applications are now ONLINE only!

We further discuss practical ways to be an effective Delegate. We explore Delegate and activist selection and development, problem solving, confidence with management and meetings, Awards and Agreements, as well as recruitment.

We find that Delegates networking, sharing stories and experiences and learning from each other has been a real motivator for those attending.

Join The Team

Delegate numbers have been increasingly hard to maintain and grow in recent years.

This year is busier than ever as we are negotiating the majority of Agreements post-covid, so managing surveys, rolling-out of Agreements and recruiting at sporadic inductions are just some of the important ways an active Delegate can assist their Union.

Interested in taking the next steps to be part of a movement that takes action for real change?

Talk to your store Delegate, Recruiter or Organiser. We can discuss the role in more detail and see if it is the right fit for you.