Sisters Becoming Union

The Anna Stewart Memorial Project

The ASMP is a biannual two-week secondment program designed to promote women’s involvement in the union movement. The project has been in existence since 1984 and around 1,000 women have participated in the Victorian project.

During the two-week project successful VIEU applicant/s will be placed at the VIEU office and experience the full range of union work including visiting a range of schools from both sectors and enterprise negotiations. In addition, all participants meet at Trades Hall for one whole day and two half days during the project to discuss women, work and union issues. VIEU covers all replacements costs.

"In the Education Sector we can be ignorant about our comrades in other industries. The project was a wonderful opportunity to mix with women from different sectors and to gain an insight into their working conditions" ~ Mary McMahon, 2006 participant

"The ASMP is a valuable and enriching program. It was a great opportunity to learn in different settings: the VIEU office, Trades Hall, school visits and from the interesting experience at the AIRC."
~Joanna Kakos, 2006 participant

"I met women from vehicle manufacturing, nursing, education and the police. At Trades Hall I realised how difficult it is for women to juggle family commitments with work, the new WorkChoices (what choices?) legislation and the effect it will have on workers."
~Dominique Mitchelson, 2006 participant

2010 Program
Monday 3 May - Friday 14 May
Monday 11 October - Friday 22 October
May Application Form
October Application Form

For more information contact Therese O'Loughlin at the VIEU office on 9254 1860 or email toloughlin@vieu.org.au

About Anna Stewart

Anna Stewart, a former journalist and active Victorian union official from 1974 to 1983, dies tragically in 1983, aged 35. Her involvement with the union movement began at a time when women workers comprised one-third of the paid workforce, but the few industries in which women were employed, offered jobs that were poorly paid, lacked job security and skills recognition.

A prime consideration motivating Anna was the need to develop strategies which would address the issues confronting working women and to facilitate the important contribution that women can make to the trade union movement.

With the Federated Furnishing Trades Society of Australia, Anna Stewart successfully spearheaded the first blue collar union campaign for maternity leave award provisions. At the time Anna was in the late stages of pregnancy with her third child.

After moving to the Victorian Vehicle Builders Federation in 1975, Anna fought for childcare facilities in car plants, researched and argued work value cases, initiated campaigns against sexual harassment causing employers to recognise sexual harassment as an industrial issue, and assisted with the ACTU Maternity Leave Test Case.

Anna Stewart was a foundation member of the ACTU Women’s Committee, established in 1977 and worked tirelessly on programs to be incorporated into the Working Women’s Charter. Anna emphasised the key demand made by the ACTU Working Women’s Charter for increased involvement of women within the structures of the union movement.

As Senior Federal Industrial Officer with the Municipal Officers Association, Anna initiated women’s committees in most state branches of the union and developed strong policies in relation to women workers. After her death, the MOA adopted the Affirmative Action Policy that Anna developed.

The influence of Anna’s work is difficult to measure. Many women gained strength and confidence from her example of combining motherhood and a career. During Commission hearings, Anna would either breast feed her young son or seek adjournments to do so, exposing the Commission, employers and the union to the needs of women workers. In addition, Anna secured many conditions for the members she represented and indirectly for all working women, by setting these precedents.

Women unionists are fortunate to have Anna’s example to assist and support them in the struggles that continue today.

Development of the Project

After Anna’s death, a number of her trade union friends and colleagues met to determine the most appropriate means by which her work and life could be remembered. The founders of the Memorial felt that a project based around the Working Women’s Charter demand for increased involvement in trade unions was immediately relevant to Anna’s memory and to the needs of the female workforce. This was felt to be particularly appropriate in light of statistics that showed that, despite the large numbers of women joining trade unions, women were still under-represented in decision-making structures.

The Anna Stewart Memorial Project was thus born and the inaugural program was co-ordinated by the Municipal Officers Association in Victoria in April 1984.

The Project was conceived as an annual two week "on the job" training program for women unionists. It was designed to give participants unique levels of access to union organisations, and develop their awareness of the ways in which unions can work to redress the discrimination and exploitation of women workers in Australia. Unions also benefit by increased sensitivity to the needs of, and issues affecting, women workers.

Objectives of the Project

To provide a fitting memorial to a leading trade unionist.
To facilitate the greater involvement of women in the trade union movement and to encourage women to stand for office or to seek jobs within trade unions.
To encourage the integration of women into union structures by increasing the opportunity for involvement in those structures, thereby seeking to overcome the sense of alienation often experienced by female members.
To promote greater awareness within unions of the particular needs of female members and the important contribution women can make to the development and growth of unions.
To promote women’s understanding of the day to day operations of individual unions and to further their knowledge of collective activities of groups of unions and State and National Peak Councils.
To facilitate a greater understanding of the industrial issues confronting women in both blue and white collar occupations with a view to bridging the gaps which often exist between workers in these areas.