Simone McGurk has been a union official for the best part of her career and doesn’t see the relevance of unionism changing.
UNION officials are widely caricatured as pot-bellied loud mouths sitting largely on the left of the Australian Labor Party. And while the last part of this stereotype may be true, Simone McGurk is far from what many would expect when they meet the Unions WA secretary.
“No facial hair, no beer gut, no braces,” Ms McGurk says.
She has been driven by her passion for politics, and has spent her career working for unions, with a clear ambition to improve conditions for Western Australian workers.
“I have always been a bit this way inclined, a bit political. Like many involved in politics at uni, half are involved in state Labor politics and the other half are in federal Labor politics,” Ms McGurk says of what drove her to union work.
After completing an arts degree majoring in politics, she landed a public policy role and then moved to the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
“I joke about them taking the best years of my life, it was about 10 years I was with them [the AMWU]. I started off as a researcher but ended up getting elected as an organiser and assistant secretary before I left,” Ms McGurk says of her foray in to the unions system.
Unions are not a sector over-run with women – only 2 or 3 per cent of AMWU members are female – but when Ms McGurk was elected as assistant secretary with a 75 per cent vote she felt it spoke volumes for her credibility.
Obviously there has been no glass ceiling.
“My gender hasn’t been an issue in my work. I haven’t had a bad experience. I have made jokes about my vocal chords, having them surgically enhanced; sometimes it is difficult to project [my voice] but I guess I have to get a better PA system,” Ms McGurk told WA Business News.
“I would venture to say I hold my beliefs as strongly as the other union officials out there and have earned my stripes working as hard in a variety of campaigns.”
After further study, a media degree this time, Ms McGurk briefly worked for the Miscellaneous Workers Union, now the largest union in WA.
But working for the “missos”, with a large contingent in social services proved to be a difficult transition, having come from an industry where workers were not afraid to be represented by a bullish representative body.
“I had gone from working to represent people working in metal shops with a culture where people were pretty used to knowing they needed to stand together if they were going to negotiate,” Ms McGurk says.
“Then I went in to a child care centre and said ‘you guys should get some paid training leave or try to get some better wages’.
“We actually got complaints to the union that I had been suggesting stuff that was contrary to the interests of the childcare centre. The culture is completely different.”
Ms McGurk says an industry wide policy is required for the services sector if change is to be successfully effected.
‘‘You couldn’t just negotiate with one childcare centre, it just wouldn’t make sense. The dilemmas are across the whole industry,’’ she says.
Quizzed on the significance of unions in a post-WorkChoices era, Ms McGurk is confident in her response.
“The reality is we still represent 170,000 working Western Australians, that is a pretty good number,” she says.
“I am reasonably satisfied that we are arguing on behalf of not only union members but a broader community interest.
“It’s difficult not to want to revert to a history lesson for people. A lot of the standards that are enjoyed now are a result of union members deciding to agitate to say ‘these are standards we want set’.
“You can go back to the basics of hours, penalties, but really health and safety is a pretty current example. It is really union members that have set up a lot of the standards we enjoy today.”
“I think what people could relate to is they want to be respected in their workplace, they want to have a voice and current standards at their workplace. I think people may understand when they want to negotiate something with their employer or they just want to have a voice.”
What is the most important issue facing Unions WA at the moment?
“It’s trying to make sure that what unions are focused on is what we need to be focused on in terms of policy work in WA. I reckon that local content is an important area and training is important. There is a lot of talk about the skills shortage and how do we gear up the sector to make sure West Australians are being trained in enough time to fill the jobs that are coming thick and fast.”
Has the hard-lined union approach of the 1980s and 1990s created difficulties for current union action?
“It gets frustrating trying to respond to stereotypes. A woman is $197 a week better off if she is a union member than if she is not a union member. Overwhelmingly people who are union members are better off in their pay and their conditions. Despite all that we still are faced with negative stereotypes of unionism.”
If you could change one thing about our society, what would it be?
At one stage I would have referred to the need to address poverty, literacy or job opportunities, but I think at the current time the biggest challenge facing our society is climate change.
Biggest career challenge?
Extending the benefits of union membership to more Western Australians.
If you could choose an alternative career, what would it be?
Hosting the 7:30 Report.
