Face to face with new reps

Meet the newest cohort of IEU Reps, idealistic and enthusiastic teachers keen to learn new skills to improve conditions for colleagues.

It all starts here. A room full of enthusiastic first-time reps, from varied schools, meeting each other and their IEU mentors for the first time at Initial Rep Training.

By morning tea, after just a couple of hours, some conclusions could be reached.

Many reps were sharing their role with an offsider; some had not planned to be in the role, but all were enthusiastic now they had it; all saw signing new members in their schools as paramount; the IEU’s training was essential; and the IEU jacket is a prized garment.

Jacqui Cusack and Tim Keys are jointly representing the union at Firbank Grammar School. Their exchange is typical of several ‘tag-team’ rep arrangements.

Jacqui: I’m not good in confrontations, so I needed somebody there to back me up.

Tim: Whereas I hate doing all the admin work…

Jacqui: And I’m happy doing that.

Tim: And I’m happy to lead the charge... I thought we could work well as a team.

And they do work well, having already set up two meetings per term to raise, then deal with issues put forward by members.

Jeannie and Alanie from St Luke’s School, Lalor, admit they ‘kind of fell into the role’. But they’ve gained strength from being a team and are keen to absorb as much as they can at training to improve members’ awareness of their entitlements.

‘We both put our hands up and then decided together we could share it and help each other out,’ says Alanie. 

Louise Cass from Sacred Heart School, Sandringham, also shares her role, and hadn’t planned on taking it on.

‘We really have thought this out; it’s not random. Although, it’s random we’ve taken it on!’

She says when meeting with principals it helps to have company.

‘I think it’s better to have two strong union reps…. It just gives it more weight.’

It’s also handy to have a colleague to ‘talk things through’. 

‘It’s great for us to bounce things off one another, it does give me some support. Also, when we’re presenting to the principal I’m then not seen as the sole ‘troublemaker’!’

Many schools have multiple campuses and different jurisdictions. Two is also better than one for them. Louise is a classroom teacher at a primary school and her offsider is a specialist teacher at a secondary campus. Between them, they cover more staff, and ‘it also gives people within the school two points of contact in case they feel more comfortable talking to her or me’.

Marcus Van Denham and Lisa Hoang of Loreto Mandeville Hall decided to split their role between teachers of Prep to year six and years 7-12.

Whether lone wolves or tag-teams, all the new reps were keen to improve union presence at their schools.

Jacqui and Tim aim to improve recruitment amongst education support staff, where only 12 per cent of staff are members. 

Louise is coming up with ‘fun activities’ to draw people into the union. She says its ‘really important’ to boost numbers because hers is a small independent school with low representation.

‘I’d like to go back to school and change perceptions of what the union does; it plays a really important role for them in case things go pear-shaped. I think that there’s so much for the union to offer…’

Janelle Szkwarek from Lumen Christi School in Churchill is already committed to ‘making sure that teachers and support staff and everyone know about what the union does and what it can do for them and us as teachers’.

Andy Basterfield is keen to ‘up numbers’ at Mackillop Specialist School in Whittington. 

And Jeannie and Alanie are out to ‘make everyone aware of what they’ve signed up for and then how we can help them’.

So, what was important about this first day of training for the IEU’s latest foot soldiers?

Jessica Kerlin from Holy Eucharist School, St Albans, says up until now, she’s gone back to her former rep whenever she was asked a question by a member. After this day of training, she feels she’ll know what she needs to do herself. 

Jeannie and Alanie have been waiting for this day, to gain an understanding of their role, what they need to do and where they can go for information and support. 

‘From today onwards, we’ll be all-in,’ says Jeannie.

Samantha Worley from Lavalla Catholic College, Traralgon, says she needs ‘a better understanding on what I do next... Just so I know what I’m saying is right’.

She has her first meeting with staff days after this training.

After only a couple of hours, Andy has already picked up tips on her new role. She’d sought ‘clarity around the role’, and to build skills and confidence to do that role and new ways to get people to sign up as members.

Andy is a second-generation unionist (her Dad was a shop steward for the ETU). No surprise then that her current recruitment pitch has conviction: ‘(Union membership) is like car insurance: you don’t need it until you do and then if you don’t have it, you’re in strife’.

Jessica is ‘absorbing little bits of information. Just what I need to do’.

Janelle didn’t know anyone when she first walked in, but she has already made connections with three colleagues. A common refrain is how pleasant it is to gather in number – there are 27 new reps in attendance – outside the classroom, after a tumultuous, locked-down 2020. 

So, what about the power of that signature, the stylish Australian-made IEU jacket, accredited by Ethical Clothing Australia?

It sure is appreciated by new reps.

‘The jackets are very exciting – I didn’t know that was a thing, I’m pleasantly surprised! The teachers will be jealous!’ says Janelle.

Jessica said the previous incumbent urged her to become the new rep. Then a graduate nominated her, saying ‘you’ll get a jacket!’ 

That seemed to have sealed the deal.

At morning tea, the varied throng adjourns to the fitting room to try on their new garb. The mood is upbeat, can-do, eager, like a first day of school for grown-ups. The jacket is symbolic, but it is more than that. It is the visual representation of a commitment these reps have made to their fellow teachers and the union, which has been evident in their words to us this morning.

This article was originally published in The Point, V1, No2, 2021.