Strength in numbers: Building a strong IEU chapter

The more members the union has, the greater our bargaining power in negotiations for your pay and conditions. Everyone can play a part in encouraging their colleagues to join the IEU.

Belonging to a union is not only good for each of us personally, it’s also good for the collective power of all staff in each workplace as well as across each sector.

Strong membership invariably results in stronger industrial outcomes when the IEU is negotiating the salaries and conditions in your enterprise agreements. Here are just a few good reasons to join the IEU:

  • We negotiate for better salaries and conditions.
  • We provide industrial advice and support on employment issues including your working conditions, salaries and classifications, leave entitlements, flexible work arrangements, child protection and your rights and responsibilities in the workplace.
  • We advocate for your interests through campaigning, policy submissions, targeted publications, and by being your voice in the mainstream media.
  • We offer professional development through regular training sessions, workshops and conferences.
  • We provide support for career development through accreditation.
  • Other benefits include opportunities for retail, recreation and travel discounts, as well as access to health cover and financial services.

Who can join?

All staff who are employed in a non-government schools are invited to join and be represented by the IEU. This includes teachers and support staff, professional, administrative and operational staff, maintenance, outdoor and groundskeeping staff, catering and nursing staff and boarding-house supervisors.

Teachers who work in the early childhood education and care sector are invited to join, as are teachers in the English language intensive courses for overseas students (ELICOS) sector and post-secondary business colleges.

Invite new members

Everyone likes a personal invitation, so a simple, friendly conversation with new staff or non-members is always the best approach.

Not everyone knows what a union does or why it matters to join, so it’s important to explain the benefits and mention that many of your colleagues are also union members. It’s quite possible your school’s principal is a member of the principals’ IEU chapter.

Ask your colleagues if they have any questions and listen to their concerns. Remind them that joining is easy (online or printed form) and confidential. Here are a few simple responses if your colleagues have questions about why they should join:

  • It’s industrial representation when you need it.
  • It’s our way of making sure our voice gets heard in the workplace.
  • It’s our way of being able to effect change in the workplace.
  • You never know when you’ll need confidential advice and support.
  • The union provides assistance for graduate teachers seeking proficiency.
  • The union gives you access to free NESA-accredited professional development.
  • We are enjoying huge gains in pay and conditions won by the efforts of current and previous members, and these gains reflect the power of what unions can achieve.
  • As your life circumstances change, you may need assistance in negotiating flexible or alternative work arrangements.
  • Join the IEU: ieu.asn.au/why-join-us

''No one person on their own is the union – the union is always a collective, and this starts with the chapter at your school.''

Explain the value

Membership fees can be a touchy subject. When times are tough, as they have been over the past couple of years, almost any expense can seem difficult for working people. Here is how union membership is cost effective:

  • Membership fees are an investment rather than an expense.
  • It is widely known that union-negotiated agreements outperform non-union agreements.
  • Union fees are tax deductible.
  • First-year-out teachers get three months free (25% discount on their first year of membership).
  • There is a cost to negotiating awards and agreements – it requires analysts, negotiators, industrial officers and organisers to build support, negotiate with and pressure employers and finalise agreements. Union membership provides all this for you.
  • Defending members using legal help can also be expensive, but a win for an individual member is invariably a win for the entire membership. If you had to engage a lawyer to defend yourself on an individual matter, it would be far more expensive than union fees.
  • Members receive access to free, accredited PD that can be expensive elsewhere.
  • Members have access to an IEU organiser and industrial specialists who can assist with specific concerns and issues.
  • Union members across Australia have access to Union Shopper, which offers discounts on a wide variety of purchases, including whitegoods and electronics, travel, dining and entertainment. Members report saving hundreds of dollars a year through this platform: unionshopper.com.au

Create a union community

No one person on their own is the union at their school or early childhood centre – the union is always a collective, and this starts with the chapter at your school.

Chapters are the union’s foundation. They’re the group of IEU members in each school, college or early childhood centre (excluding principals, who have their own chapter). Each chapter elects one or more reps, who arrange chapter meetings, keep members informed of union issues and liaise with your union organiser. They are the first port of call for IEU members in the workplace.

The union encourages regular chapter meetings – these can be brief gatherings you hold at recess, lunchtime or after school. You are always welcome to invite your IEU organiser who is experienced at talking union issues with members.

Reps and members are not expected to be industrial advocates. This is the role of full-time officers of the union and we ask you to feel comfortable in passing over such tasks to them.

Remember that new delegates’ rights, now enshrined in law, make crystal clear your right to talk union business at work.

Keep the union visible

Do you have a union noticeboard at your school or early childhood centre? The IEU has a poster with a QR code making it easy for new members to join online.

You can also print this poster as an A4 flyer and give it to new members, and your rep or organiser can also give you printed membership forms.

Hold regular chapter meetings and invite your colleagues and union organiser to attend.

We also encourage you to leave our publications (including this one) in your staffroom so new members can see the breadth of the union’s advocacy and the diversity of the union community.

Communicate regularly

Regular, ongoing conversations with members are the best way for the union to be visible in your workplace, to attract new members, and to encourage active involvement in the union.

If it’s difficult to hold regular chapter meetings to keep members up to date with union issues, consider your union noticeboard, email (using the school or centre’s email is covered by new delegates’ rights), or even flyers in pigeonholes.

Keep in touch with your organiser

One of the best ways chapters grow and strengthen is through a strong link between the union office and the members at your school or centre.

The IEU has about 30 organisers in five offices throughout NSW and the ACT: Sydney, Parramatta, Newcastle, Lismore and Canberra. Organisers are the link between reps, members and the union office. They attend chapter meetings to listen to your concerns and ideas and to provide union resources and information.

Our organisers cover metropolitan schools and they travel far and wide to talk to members in every corner of NSW and the ACT.

Maintaining strong connections with the union office will ensure you keep up to date with what’s happening in your sector and will enable you to keep members informed of union activities and services.

If you’re ever in doubt, call or email your organiser, or call the IEU on 8202 8909 and ask for the duty officer.

Monica Crouch
Journalist