Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.

Anna Stewart Memorial Project

14th October 2008
The Anna Stewart Memorial Project commenced at the Victorian Trades Hall Council on Monday (13/10).  Organised by the VTHC Women's Officer, Jennifer O'Donnell-Pirisi, the aim of the project is to increase women's involvement in the union movement through training. (Picture: Lisa Darmanin, Assistant Secretary of the ASU A&S Branch talking to the particpants)

What is the Project?
The aim of the Anna Stewart Memorial Project is to increase women's involvement in the union movement through training. The project has been in existence since 1984 and so far over 400 women unionists have participated in the Victorian arm of the project.
During the two week project women trade union members from diverse workplaces and occupations are placed with their own, and sometimes with another union. They experience the full range of union work, including mass meetings, enterprise bargaining negotiations and hearings in the Industrial relations Commission. All participants meet for three full days and one half day during the project to discuss women, work and union issues. They are generally sponsered by unions and there is no charge for attending the course.

Who was Anna Stewart?
Anna Stewart, a former journalist and active Victorian union official from 1974 to 1983, died 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 to address the issues confronting working women and to highlight the important contribution that women make to the trade union movement.


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