United Voice

United Voice was first established in 1910 as the Watchmen, Caretakers and Cleaners Union of New South Wales (W.C.C.U.),[7] which was created by the Organising Committee of the New South Wales Labor Council.[8] The task of organisation was a difficult one, due to the casualised and isolated nature of the occupations covered.[8] Under the leadership of the first Secretary of the WCCU, Joe Coote, the union adopted a pragmatic approach to increasing union membership, by including any workers not already represented by trade unions, such as paintmaking employees.[8] To reflect the growing range of industries represented, on 15 December 1915 the union amalgamated with the Victorian Branch and changed its name to the Federated Miscellaneous Workers' Union.[8][9]

After steady growth over the first half of the century, including winning paid sick leave, annual leave and a forty-hour week, the union really took off in the 1950s. A new rank-and-file leadership led by Ray Gietzelt took over to create a vibrant, member-driven union.[10] Famous campaigns during the 1950s and 1960s included organising workers paid to be Santa Clauses at Christmas and a group of dance instructors who were locked out for four months before winning their jobs back.[10]

The strength of the "Missos" continued to grow over the years, with membership increasing from 25,000 in 1955 to 88,000 by 1975.

By the late 1980s, the LHMU had gained a good deal of political power. It benefited from the close links of Ray Gietzelt to ALP politicians such as Bob Hawke, Neville Wran, Lionel Murphy and his brother Arthur Gietzelt. Subsequently, though, its fortunes declined. The move of flight catering and aircraft cleaning staff to join the Transport Workers Union in the mid-1990s resulted in the LHMU losing several thousand members. In 1996 John Howard became Prime Minister, and his government worked to weaken the union movement as a whole, with the result that the LHMU lost further members between 1996 and 2007.

Since Howard's defeat in 2007, nevertheless, the union reported a small but steady growth in numbers, even as the membership of most other Australian unions continued to shrink. Its major campaign on cleaners' behalf, called Clean Start:Fair Deal for Cleaners,[11] was inspired by the successful American campaign called Justice for Janitors.

The strong links with prominent ALP figures continued. Former cabinet ministers Penny Wong and Mark Butler were both LHMU branch officials in South Australia before they entered the federal parliament.[12][13]

The National Council was the highest decision making body in the union. It was made up of delegates from each Branch of the union, and each section within those Branches. Half of National Council's membership was rank and file members. National Council met in August each year. The Executive carries out the decisions of the Council.

The National Executive was the national management committee of United Voice. National Executive met at least twice per year, but usually around four times. Members of National executive were elected to their positions, and there were rules for proper representation of membership sections and gender. The National Secretary were elected officers of the Union who worked as the chief executives and operational managers of the National Union. The National presidents were also elected officers whose role was to chair the Council and Executive meetings.

Jo-Anne Schofield was the National Secretary of United Voice.[14]

Each state and territory had its own branch of the union, with roughly the same structure as the national office. Each branch had a Branch Council and a Branch Executive.