Outgoing IEU President Tina Ruello addresses Council on 15 June
The IEU’s outgoing President, Tina Ruello, who resigned at the union’s Council meeting on 15 June, leaves the IEU in a strong position and with the good wishes of the Executive, Council delegates, staff, and the broader membership.
Tina, who teaches English at Catherine McAuley in Westmead, has been an IEU member for 35 years and a member of the union’s Executive, which oversees the branch’s strategic priorities and finances, for about 10 years.
“I’ve grown professionally and personally in this time,” Tina said. “I’ve been president for 18 months, and I’ve witnessed a dynamic shift in levels of debate and discussions, driving passion, and perseverance to see through processes with transparency and clarity. I thank the members for their commitment and for allowing me to represent and serve them.”
As both IEU President and a teacher in a Catholic systemic school, Tina was at the forefront of the historic Hear our Voice campaign in 2022-23 that achieved an 8% to 12% pay rise for teachers and 12% to 19% for support staff.
Tina was also the IEU’s representative in the Unions NSW “Essential Workers Deserve Better” campaign in 2023 that saw Labor elected, the Coalition’s decade-long 2.5% pay cap abolished and meaningful pay rises subsequently gained by NSW government teachers, paramedics and other public sector staff.
“I’m immensely proud of being involved in both campaigns,” Tina said.
“The biggest highlight was addressing Labor ministers at NSW Parliament House, on behalf of the union, explaining what it’s like to teach in a teacher shortage, what it’s like being a professional receiving unprofessional pay, what it’s like being essential but feeling dispensable, paradoxically.”
IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews, who has known and worked with Tina for many years, also says Tina’s address at NSW Parliament House to politicians and union officials after Labor won government in 2023 was a highlight.
Tina was one of just two union representatives selected to address the gathering. “Tina’s sincerity and her ability to speak from her own experience about the issues NSW workers faced were outstanding,” Carol said. “Some months earlier, at the campaign launch, she had addressed a large gathering of union officials and working people from across the union movement with equal aplomb.
“I personally also really appreciated her warmth and support for me as Deputy Secretary and later Secretary,” Carol said.
Tina is relinquishing her demanding union roles to focus on her greatest loves: her family, and teaching.
“I leave to continue teaching full time, whilst trying to maintain a family life where I am not absent,” Tina said.
At an International Women’s Day event in 2020, Tina spoke of the enormous value of her profession. “Never underestimate the power you have in your classroom and the impact you have with those minds that are ready and willing and able to see some other side,” she said.
The union is enormously grateful to Tina, who in turn thanks the union. “Great thanks and appreciation to IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews, who provided guidance and support through my tenure – thank you for your confidence in my leadership abilities, for listening, and for your good humour.” Tina also acknowledged executive assistant Helen O’Regan’s work.
Delegates at IEU Council passed a unanimous motion: “Council acknowledges President Tina Ruello, noting her commitment to union campaigns and that her public speaking at rallies, in particular the Catholic systemic schools ‘Hear our Voice’ campaign, the Unions NSW ‘Essential Workers’ campaign and her address to Labor MPs at NSW Parliament House should be applauded.”
The IEU thanks Tina for her service and solidarity, and we wish her all the very best for the future.