Page 24 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 27 November 2012
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Growing up in a Labor household, it was not too surprising to end up working in the labour movement for United Voice and putting my values into practice. My work with people engaged in the range of industries covered by United Voice has brought me face to face with the disadvantage and vulnerability faced by Canberrans in these occupations. Canberra on the surface looks like the epitome of middle-class paradise with our high wages, high levels of education and wonderful material wealth. What most Canberrans do not see, however, are the people doing it tough; people like our cleaners and aged-care workers, our security workers and early childhood educators, our bar workers and kitchen staff. They are some of the hardest working members of our community, yet they are some of the lowest paid and least secure in their employment.
Working in a small branch of the union means that you work closely with your members, and I have learnt so much from the members of United Voice over the last 17 years. There is nothing more inspiring than seeing a group of people come together and win achievements in their livelihoods. When we ran the clean start campaign—the campaign for a living wage and decent conditions in the cleaning industry—we brought together people from across the country and the world, some with little English, many with little education. This campaign empowered these people, mainly women, and gave them the skills to fight for dignity in their work. Chris Wagland, one of the great United Voice delegates and now vice-president of the branch, said that when she got involved in the clean start campaign she had been cleaning for 20 years and now, as a 40-year-old woman, she did not feel like she had to apologise when she asked for fair wages.
My last campaign with United Voice was leading the big steps campaign for professional recognition and professional wages. Early childhood educators play a vitally important role in the development of our children. These are the first people who parents entrust the care of their children with and they are responsible for helping children to learn to play with others, interact in new environments and build their characters that will last with them for the rest of their lives. You would think that these people, with such responsibility, would be rewarded with the professional wages that they deserve. Yet throughout the campaign I met educators who could only afford to live in garages, who had to work multiple jobs in order to make ends meet and who could not afford to have their own children in education and care. I know that the campaign is not over yet, and I cannot wait for the day that early childhood educators get the recognition that they deserve.
In the big steps campaign I worked closely with a woman who inspired me to take this next step and enter politics. Di Terrance has been working with children in the early childhood sector for 20 years. Di and the team at Spence Children’s Cottage provided the love, care and education for both my own children and I will be forever grateful that my children had access to such high quality care and education. Our relationship with the cottage family has continued, and we will always consider them part of our family.
The people who work in the industries that United Voice represent are the working foundations of our city. They are the people who I had the privilege to work with over the past 17 years, and I will continue to represent them in this government.
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