For everyone Forty years of Anna
Anna Stewart (1947–1983) was a journalist and union advocate who, while pregnant with her third child and working as an industrial advocate for the Federated Furnishing Trades Society of Australia, ran the first blue-collar union campaign for maternity leave. It was a success.
She moved to the Vehicle Builders Employees Federation, where she worked on campaigns against sexual harassment and ensuring childcare in workplaces, and she stood for the ALP in the conservative seat of Frankston for the 1979 state election.
Stewart is remembered through the Anna Stewart Memorial Project, a program designed to encourage more women to be active in unions. Participants work on a project over the course of a two-week internship consisting of two days each week at the Victorian Trades Hall Council, and the other days in a union.
“Consider the benefit of taking the risk.”
Ruth Borger
THE CONFIDENCE TO SAY YES TO OPPORTUNITY
Ruth Borger, teacher at Rochester Secondary College, did the program in 2019 with the intention of finding ways to grow her sub-branch. In the end, above all, the ASMP gave her some self-assurance. When she was later offered an opportunity to do some professional coaching, it was the confidence she had gained while doing the ASMP that allowed her to say yes.
“I usually wouldn’t put my hand up for something like that, but instead I did the program for a year and a half, and it was rewarding in terms of professional development. It had an immediate flow-on benefit to the sub-branch because the things I chose to work on were supporting people and having successful conversations in the workplace.”
Learning to say yes to new things was invaluable. “Consider the benefit of taking the risk,” Ruth advises.
Erin Schroeder is a teacher at MacRobertson Girls’ High School who did the program in 2017 because she wanted to get more involved in the union and work alongside other women.
“I apply a lot of the principles that I learnt at the Anna Stewart, and just the tenacity you get exposed to by other women, and the history of the union movement in general – that’s pretty inspiring.
“It helps build the leadership skills it takes to make some issues come to the fore,” Erin says. “Women are often socially expected to not make waves and it helps to ensure those waves are actually made and that there is nothing wrong with making them.”
“I’ve been using storytelling as a way to advocate for different staff members and myself.”
Nichole Jenkins
THE POWER OF ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE
Nichole Jenkins has worked at Bentleigh West Kindergarten for 11 years and sits on the AEU’s early childhood sector council. Her original Anna Stewart project was scuppered thanks to COVID, but Nichole came away with plenty of information about returning to work after having a baby, which soon ended up coming in handy for her.
“It meant when it was my turn, I knew my rights about, for example, lactation breaks, and returning to work part-time. I had a bank of information that really helped me. Since then, I have been able to share the information with other people,” Nichole says.
The program also taught her the power of story in advocating for change. “We did training around telling your story and how using your personal experience helps people connect to an issue.”
When proposed reforms threatened the way her kindergarten was run, Nichole organised a group of parents together to tell the story of what the kinder means to its staff and community. “Without the training, I wouldn’t have had the skills. It helped us to get the kinder to stay as a committee-run kinder.”
AEU Victoria has many ASMP alumni, including within our leadership ranks president Meredith Peace, secretary Erin Aulich and deputy secretary Seir Holley.
If doing the ASMP appeals to you, get in touch with another of our Anna Stewart alumni, our Women’s Organiser Kerry Green: kerry.green@aeuvic.asn.au.
