Editorial: A democratic union
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 124 No 2, 15 March 2019, page no. 5
Throughout the 130-year life of the QTU, its members have freely chosen and committed to maintaining and renewing a democratic structure.
The Union’s democracy has three features: it is representative; it is run by members; and participation is voluntary.
A representative democracy
Most of the time, democracy is exercised through representative structures.
Full membership ballots are conducted for:
- election of the QTU’s President, Vice-President and Honorary Vice-President every three years
- statewide industrial action
- approval of enterprise bargaining agreements.
Other decisions are made by representative bodies – the Council, Conference, Executive and Area Council for schools and the Union overall; and the TAFE Council and TAFE Executive for TAFE members.
Whether it’s schools or in TAFE, the fundamental building block of the representative structure is the branch. For members in schools, there are 103 branches covering the schools in a geographic area. In major cities, these have between 200 and 750 members each; in other areas, they range from 60 to 600 allowing for the large area covered by some branches.
Each branch elects a representative to State Council every three years, two representatives to the Area Council every three years at a different time, and a Conference delegate every two years, with a ballot of all members if required because of the number of nominations.
Council
The Council is the main decision-making body of the Union, which meets four times a year. It is made up of six elected Senior Officers, 103 branch representatives, a representative from each of 12 area councils, and three representatives from the TAFE Division. That’s 124 members and 120 votes (I and the two deputy general secretaries don’t have a vote, and the President chairs the Council with a casting vote only), with 119 of those votes cast by elected “rank-and-file” representatives who work every day in schools and TAFE colleges.
Executive
In between Council meetings, decisions are made by an Executive elected by the Council every three years.
There are 20 people on the Executive – six Senior Officers, one Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander representative, one TAFE representative and 12 other Council members. On any issue, 16 of the 20 members have a vote, and 15 of those are rank-and-file members. Executive meets fortnightly. Using videoconferencing, Executive now has members from across the state.
The rank-and-file members of Executive, Council and conference make a significant contribution of time on behalf of all members to make decisions on the Union's direction. It is not always appreciated as it should be.
How do you put forward an idea?
Members have two ways of putting forward resolutions to be considered.
The first way is attending a branch meeting. Most branches meet eight times a year with meeting times and venues published on the website and in circulars. Any member can attend a branch meeting and move a resolution. If that resolution is supported by a majority of members at the branch meeting, it goes to the Council (or the Executive if it is more urgent) to be voted on. If the Council or the Executive also support the resolution, it becomes the position of the Union until a subsequent decision changes it.
The branch meetings immediately before Council also normally consider the issues it will consider, based on the papers that have been distributed.
The second way is to hold a meeting of QTU members at school, organised by the school Union Reps. A resolution supported by a majority of members goes to Executive. If it is supported by Executive, it becomes the position of the Union until considered at Council.
Of course, members can also express an individual view in an email or letter and that will be responded to by a Union officer in line with the existing decisions of Council or Executive. The principle is simple: the more members involved in the decision, the higher it is considered in the decision-making hierarchy. A resolution from a branch (many schools) goes to Council; a resolution from a school goes to Executive; an individual’s view is addressed by an officer.
Participation is voluntary; decisions are binding
Unlike federal, state and local government elections, participation in Union elections is voluntary. Voting is not compulsory, but as far as humanly possible, everybody has the chance to express a view.
The avenues available to QTU members to put resolutions and issues on the decision-making agenda is far greater than any level of government, but participation is again voluntary.
The decisions are made, at the end of the day, by those who turn up – and there are many members who do. And in a collective organisation, those decisions – in an election, in a ballot, in a vote – are binding. They are the democratically-decided positions of the QTU.
The QTU is proudly democratic. We’re starting from a very high level, but, we’re always looking at ways to make it even more democratic.