What IEU membership means to me: retired member Maxine Barry

Retired members form a small but important cohort of the IEU. These union diehards maintain their paid-up membership despite leaving employment in education.

Maxine Berry is one of these cultural touchstones of the IEU, and the union movement. She’s been a member since 1989, and is one of over 400 members of the IEU Victoria Tasmania Retired Member Network, whose continued support is a huge boon to the union.

She’s also active in the ACTU’s Retired Unionist Network, and she wants more of us to consider joining that group once we retire.

Maxine remains is still “keenly interested” in education, union and political matters, as you will read.

Education career

My first job in education was in a very tough secondary technical school in Broadmeadows. I was an English and Social Studies teacher, later also working with apprentices who had reading difficulties (back in the day, those tech schools were also TAFEs). 

What I learnt there was that an inspired and competent principal can change a school’s culture extraordinarily quickly. Alas, in later postings I also learnt that the opposite is true!

It wasn’t long before I began working solely with students who struggled with literacy; that was an initiative of the visionary principal. It was the beginning of a career in special education, for which I gained qualifications, first a Graduate Diploma and ultimately a Masters.  

The Masters was gained while I was teaching in the special education department of the University of Tasmania’s Centre for Education in the 1980s. We had many mature students doing single subjects to bring their qualifications up to four-year equivalence. However, we only taught pre-service Bachelor of Education students who chose Special Education subjects as an elective. Sadly, many of them chose them thinking the elective would be easy!

Returning to Melbourne, after state education had been Jeffed*, there were no special education positions in government schools. I then started working in Catholic education, initially at St Joseph’s Technical School, Clifton Hill. In its wisdom, the Catholic Education Office decided to close the school despite the fact that by then St Joseph’s had become the only Catholic Tech school in Victoria and a haven for students who didn’t fit in at mainstream Catholic secondary schools. Its loss was deeply lamented by the parents.

My last job was at St Francis Xavier Beaconsfield and Berwick, where I headed up a busy special education centre with seven integration aides catering to students, both funded and not, who had extra learning needs.  

A life in union

I had been a unionist in the State system and automatically joined the IEU, as I had always believed in the importance of collegiality and cooperation; we are always stronger together. I’ve been around long enough to witness conservatives’ attacks on workers and working conditions generally, and on unions in particular, reinforcing that belief in solidarity. I was also aware of Catholic social teaching, reinforcing that view.

It has been a relief that the current federal government, disappointing as it is in many ways has taken steps to reinstate union rights to represent workers’ interests and needs. 

Retirement on the RUN

I retired to Tasmania where I discovered the Retired Unionists’ Network (RUN) Tasmania, which in Hobart has its own part-time organiser and dedicated meeting space at the Trades Hall. It is a very energetic group which often supports pickets by unionists such as the United Workers’ Union and the Nurses and Midwives (ANMF).

I now attend virtual events as I am not quite as mobile as I was in Hobart. The ACTU RUN has interesting speakers on topics from a campaign to improve the age pension to a presentation on Australian trade union history.

Attenders report on the many and varied activities of their state branches. I particularly like the Canberra group’s name: Vintage Reds! 

I am a member because I continue to be deeply interested in union matters and current affairs. I continue as a member of IEU Victoria Tasmania for the same reason: I am still keenly interested in education. Another way to scratch that itch is signing up to volunteer in my granddaughter’s primary school, St Theresa’s Albion. Good to spot the IEU lanyards on many teachers there! 

A call to arms

Disappointingly, I am the only retired VIEU** member in RUN. I am keenly awaiting former IEU General Secretary Deb James’ arrival, once she is sick of the retired life!

Apart from recommending RUN to retired members, what would I recommend to IEU members contemplating retirement? Stay involved. You will greatly miss the camaraderie… if not the yard duties! Get involved in social issues – XR Greypower (Extinction Rebellion) needs you!

Or for a gentler involvement, Australian Parents for Climate Action welcomes grandparents with open arms, as we are generally less busy than the parents of young children.

*For the younger reader: “Jeffed” was our word for the savage school and hospital staff cuts inflicted by the Liberal Victorian premier Jeff Kennett.

**The IEU was previously known as the VIEU.

Ongoing membership in the IEU supports unionism, education and the rights of workers in the industry you loved. If you want to continue your support in retirement, please contact the IEU office on 9254 1860 or thepoint@ieuvictas.org.au or contact your current Organiser.

The Retired Unionists Network

The Retired Unionists Network (RUN), run by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), is a national network of retired union members who want to stay informed and active in the movement.

It connects with retired activist groups right around the country aiming to provide opportunities for retired union members to participate in and contribute to the creation of campaigns in the movement.

Getting involved in RUN is a great way to meet other activists and keep up with the goings on in the union movement.

It provides an opportunity to socialise with like-minded people and link in better to campaigns in your local area about the issues you care about.

To join the ACTU Retired Unionists Network, go to: rb.gy/wu1uww