Building the capacity of QTU members
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 129 No 2, 28 March 2024, page 12.
There is never just one way to achieve outcomes for QTU members across the varying issues that are currently impacting our profession.
Rather a range of strategies and approaches are needed to ensure that the different regions and contexts of our large and diverse state are considered when negotiating both industrial and professional matters in schools and TAFE.
By standing together, however, we amplify our influence on policies and decisions that impact not only on the workplace but the entire state education system.
The direction our Union takes is ultimately in the hands of its members - our QTU Executive, TAFE Executive, Council Delegates, Area Council Reps, our Workplace Reps, and our members who run and attend branch meetings.
During recent workplace visits, I have spoken to many members about coming along to their next branch meeting. QTU members in every workplace and in each area belong to their local branch. This branch, in turn, has representation at a regional level on an area council, which is also represented at State Council and Conference, where they can bring issues forward for debate.
Attending your termly branch meeting also provides an opportunity to find out what other issues our colleagues are experiencing in their workplaces. Ideas can be shared, and solutions brainstormed. Some of our members believe that you have to be a QTU Rep to attend your branch meeting. This is simply not the case; any member of the QTU, including associate members, can come to a branch meeting.
I remember during my own time in the Redlands when Kevina O’Neill (currently QTU Assistant Secretary), my Organiser at the time, held a workplace meeting during a lunchbreak (in the days we all sat around the staffroom table) and addressed the staff, asking for volunteers to become Union Reps. I really liked what she had to say that day, so I signed up to be a Rep. Then she sprung me with a “Oh by the way, there’s a branch meeting this afternoon, why don’t you come along…”
Throughout my time as a QTU activist, I attended branch meetings, area council, then State Council meetings, and in 2012 joined the Women Teachers and Girls’ Education Committee. WTGEC helped to develop my confidence in speaking out about Union issues. It also reinforced my understanding that leadership comes in many guises and that we need to bring women forward with us. Never underestimate the power of your advocacy, no matter how quiet. Because what you do makes a difference.
As we begin 2024, my vision for the year ahead is to build a greater, more active QTU membership. As teachers, we are time poor, and this can be a barrier to attending yet another meeting. However, branch meetings are the epicentre for localised action. You will meet with experienced Reps, connect with your local Organiser, hear the latest updates on issues impacting on our profession and receive support to help assist solving issues within your own workplace.
So why not attend your next branch meeting? We need to bring others on the journey with us and empower the next generation of QTU activists. So, if you are a QTU Rep, why not invite members to come along with you?
My time as your QTU Vice-President has taught me that activism comes in all shapes and forms. Advocacy is not always loud and showy… rather, to be a leader of our Union you need tenacity, dedication, and an unwavering commitment to ensuring that you provide a credible and experienced voice when representing members on the numerous professional, state, and federal committees the Presidential team sit on.
As your Vice-President, I pride myself on the recency of my practice and the professional knowledge and experience I bring to the table. As a Union leader, I get to devote my time to speaking with members and promoting the great work our Union does. As a senior officer, I am also tasked with developing the capabilities of the broader membership, which includes building active engagement within the Union’s structures.
With EB11 around the corner, now is the time to have your say and participate in the democratic structures of our Union.