Michelle Reeves, rank and file member of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU)

How long have you been a union member?

A long time! Joined at 16 at my first workplace with a union presence.

Why did you join the union?

When I was 16, I was lucky enough to be working in a unionised industry!  Most of my team were in the union, had union stickers on their desks, and pamphlets about joining in the break room. Union presence was high, and most workplace matters were discussed through a unionist lens.

Felicity, rank and file member of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation

How long have you been a union member?

9 years.

Why did you join the union?

I joined the ANMF because they provide professional indemnity insurance which was a requirement to start nursing. The ANMF has been a great resource and always available to answer queries about pay or conditions.

Olly, delegate at the Australian Services Union VicTas

How long have you been a union member?

Since my first job as a teenager.

Why did you join the union?

Working class people are the overwhelming majority of society. We do all the work, we produce all wealth, and we should run things ourselves. The only way to do this is to come together with our fellow workers and organise – to win better wages and working conditions today, and to build towards a world where we control our own workplaces and run them democratically in the interests of everyone, not just for profit.

Vanessa Born, member of the Australian Services Union (ASU)

How long have you been a union member?

10 years.

Why did you join the union?

I joined during the Equal Pay Campaign. My dad had always been a union member, but my feminist course at Uni made me think that unions only really helped out men. When an ASU organiser came to visit my workplace for the first time during the Equal Pay Campaign, I asked if I could come and listen to the meeting, and I suddenly realised that unions were for women too, so I joined immediately.

Kim Bullimore, NTEU Rank and file

How long have you been a union member?

I am a currently a member of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). I have been a rank-and-file member now for 5 or 6 years. However, I first joined a union more than 30+ years ago, when I was 19 or 20 years old and working in retail. Coming from a working-class family, I understood the importance of being part of a union, as they are the basic defence organisation for the working class. Trade unions allow us to collectively organise, to fight and defend workers right and to act in solidarity with oppressed and minority groups.

Fran Mckechnie
Australian Services Union Vic/Tas, Workplace delegate
Member of Unionists for Refugees

How long have you been a union member?

All my working life – since at least 1983.

Why did you join the union?

Strength and unity. My father was a strong union member on the waterfront. What really left an impression on me was the nurses’ strike under Irene Bolger when I was working as a nurse assistant. It opened my eyes to how the union could stand up for workers even though it felt like our backs were against the wall.

Andrew Irving
RTBU

How long have you been a union member?

43 years.

Why did you join the union?

Third generation Communist family. Grand father coal miner Wonthaggi. Father sacked Menzies Government from TAA because he was a com. He was last left executive member of Clerks Union before it was taken over by the Groupers.

Samantha Bond
ASU, International Organiser with Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA

How long have you been a union member?

39 years.

Why did you join the union?

I joined my first union as a 14 year old casual at K-Mart. The woman in payroll gave me the form and told me I didn’t have to join. I remember clearly thinking well obviously that means I DO have to join.

My next union was Actors’ Equity which was a closed shop for working actors in the 1980’s. No ticket – No start.

Ryan Stanton
Formerly NUW (now UWU), currently ETU
Current rank and file member, previous NUW delegate and HSR

How long have you been a union member?

12 years.

Why did you join the union?

I became a member of Socialist Alternative. I was convinced to do union activism through the broader political convictions of revolutionary socialism. The working class is key to any project of progressive social change, especially social revolution.

Lourdes Garcia Larqué
Rank and file member and sub-branch Women’s Officer of the AEU, Victoria

How long have you been a union member?

I have been an AEU member since I was a student-teacher in 2013, before that I have also been a union organiser in what is now the United Workers Union

Why did you join the union?

Since I moved to Australia from Mexico I was able to see how organised workers campaigned for health and safety in industries that back in my country are incredibly dangerous or precarious like construction, mining or sanitation. Years ago, I worked at what used to be the Miscellaneous Worker Union, campaigning with the cleaners. As soon as I became a teacher I just knew I had to be a union member.