Kaitlyn MacDonald is a Senior Program Officer at the Brotherhood of St Laurence who stepped up to be an ASU Delegate during a long and tense Enterprise Bargaining Agreement negotiations.
Kaitlyn joined the negotiating team because she was inspired by how hard the other Delegates were fighting and as she says, she “couldn’t say no!”
As is the typical journey of Union Delegates, Kaitlyn found her voice and strength through the bargaining process to stand up against Management, “I found that I’m braver than I think” she said.
“I wasn’t really somebody to confront people previously, and now it’s really empowering to hear people’s stories which gives you motivation to say things in these meetings.”
Brotherhood of St Laurence Members are one of the few in Community who have taken protected industrial action, even holding 2 loud rallies at the head office!
“It’s fantastic to meet more staff members from across the organisation who were amazing and motivated!”
Members have achieved some great wins throughout the negotiations, but this has only been possible because members like Kaitlyn have heeded the call and stepped up.
You may not see yourself as combative but you don’t need to be; all you need is a genuine desire to assist your workmates and advocate for their interests.
Workplaces don’t get better magically, they require the workers to organise and standup for themselves- the first step is to elect a Delegate so get in touch with our office if that is something you are interested in.
