ADVOCACY

SOCIAL ISSUES

The Association continues to be recognised as the professional voice of nurses and midwives on social issues, including:

Affordable Housing initiatives a number of nurses from St Vincent’s and Sydney Hospitals were assisted through our connections and have since gained affordable and comfortable accommodation

Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 we worked with a number of other agencies and professions for over 3 years to successfully decriminalise abortion in NSW

Climate Change in Health we have worked hard to develop a Climate Change Action Reference Group which meets regularly and brings member issues to the forefront

AGED CARE ROUNDTABLE

The Roundtable has continued to develop consumerfacing leaflets for community members seeking residential aged care as part of its ‘10 Questions to Ask’ series. This highly successful initiative engaging key stakeholders will be developed for Affordable Housing and Maternity Services.

AFFILIATIONS

The Association is part of the broader union movement with its affiliations to organisations such as Unions NSW at state level, The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) at the national level, and the Public Services International (PSI) as well as Global Nurses United (GNU) at the international level. We are affiliated to other organisations that keep the Association informed and engaged on health aspects of issues such as climate change, trade, tax systems and privatisation. Judith Kiejda reports on these partnerships for the year:

UNIONS NSW

The Assistant General Secretary is the President of Unions NSW and the Association has other Officers involved in a number of Union NSW committees. The Association often takes a leading role in any broad union campaigns and this is most recently demonstrated in the NSW government’s attempt to freeze the wages of our members after their harrowing time during the state’s worst bushfires and then the COVID-19 pandemic. Our members were right on the frontline in both of these historic events and they enjoy strong support from the community. Other public servants such as police, paramedics, public health unit staff, firefighters,

teachers, public transport drivers and those drafting policies at government level that sought to get us through these emergencies are also entitled to be recognised for their invaluable work. So we fought together, explaining to the community that while a pay rise could seem to some to be ‘undeserved’ in a world where many other deserving people have lost their jobs – this is also about our economy. Austerity across the rest of world post the GFC did not assist economies. Money needs to be spent to rebuild our economy and public servants need to be recognised for their incredible work during this unprecedented time. The NSW government obviously has to be made to understand this.

ACTU

The Assistant General Secretary holds one of the eight Junior Vice President positions on the Executive of the ACTU. This very privileged position allows your union to have a voice at a very senior level nationally and can influence debate. It is always my privilege to represent our members on the national stage whether it’s at the VP meetings, or federal government meetings and regular meetings of the federal Opposition Shadow front bench, where the Association’s views on issues such as trade, tax and climate change and their effects in the health arena can be strenuously put forward.

As a large female dominated union it is essential for us to participate in debate and discussion around issues of importance to women. The Association is represented at Womens’ Committees at state, national and international levels. It is interesting to note that women’s issues, despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, really have not advanced as they should have in the last few decades. As the movement’s largest union, we have a responsibility to take part in all aspects of women’s lives – especially their work – paid and unpaid to ensure we pave a better way for our daughters and granddaughters. Inequality is still rife in so many aspects of women’s lives and we cannot sit by and not have a voice.

Under the leadership of President Michele O’Neil and Secretary Sally McManus, the ACTU this year has undergone a huge makeover to ensure the movement has the education and therefore the tools to grow union power nationally and be campaign ready for any challenge with which we are presented. We will need all that power as governments and businesses look to move into a new economy post COVID-19. The new world must be more balanced between worker and employer and as the federal government engages with the union movement going forward they need to know Sally and Michele have an army of empowered workers behind them to ensure a fair, just and more equal Australian society.

PSI

The Association occupies the female positions on the PSI Executive for our region – Oceania. Association Public Health Organising (PHO) Team Manager, Michael Whaites, was until very recently the Oceania Sub-regional Secretary for PSI (part time) and he initiated the CICTAR tax report that exposed the many shortcomings of private providers in the aged care sector around government funding and how it was delivered – or not – to residents in aged care.

PSI has also been very vocal about the lack of PPE globally and is running a high profile campaign called Safe Staff Save Lives. PSI was also instrumental in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopting Convention c190 on Violence and Harassment, which aims to eradicate violence and harassment in the world of work. The Association is a participant in the current campaign to get this Convention ratified in every country. There is some interest from the federal government, so I take this opportunity to encourage you to lobby your federal MPs, regardless of their political stripe, to ensure this happens. If a Convention is not ratified it means nothing – it is just a page of words. Please check the Association website for resources.

GLOBAL NURSES UNITED (GNU)

This is a group of 30 plus nurses unions across the world who meet annually to discuss issues of importance to their members. We then use our global influence to make change. Most of the unions have had a truly devastating first half of the year. We have member unions in the US, Spain, Italy, Brazil and many other countries who have been much more affected by COVID-19 than we have. As this report goes to print we know approximately 350 nurses have died working during this time. Australian nurses and midwives held a vigil around the country to celebrate their lives on the evening of International Nurses’ Day.