Kym Harris - Candidate Statement

By Kym Harris

I have represented the membership of our union, on a state level for some years, and prior to that as a delegate of the AFULE. I have been Branch Vice President, both Senior and Junior, for the SA&NT Branch, and representing as a delegate on Divisional and Sub Divisional committees for almost 20 years.

I feel now is the time for me to show my interest and best represent our members by nominating for National Council.

Our industry is again in flux.

Rampant privatisation, especially of the rail sector, means that now a large portion of our membership are employed in the private sector.

I myself have seen life change from relative comfort, but not necessarily stable employment with the former Australian National, to the extremely uncomfortable situation with ASR. And then, two years ago, I was offered a position with Freight Australia.

I, along with many others have been through the trauma of forced redundancy, privatisation and the slaughter of conditions won over many years, conditions that I fear may have been lost forever.

Most private operators use the divide and conquer approach to unionism.

To counter this we must be united!!

National Council must have in its body representatives from a variety of workplaces. Not all workplaces in our industry now have a large unionised component, nor for that matter a large work force. Council must represent all of our membership regardless of its percentage of our membership. This I wish to achieve.