Activist Dolly back where she belongs

IT PROBABLY should come as no surprise that Dolly Jensen’s blog on her union website is called “Hello Dolly”.

NATIONAL LEADER: Theebine’s Dolly Jensen with her Regional Activism Labour Day Award, issued by the Queensland Council of Unions. Picture: Greg Miller

IT PROBABLY should come as no surprise that Dolly Jensen's blog on her union website is called "Hello Dolly".

And although travelling Australia on union business is a thrill for the senior official and negotiator, she freely admits it is "nice to be back where she belongs."

Theebine's Dolly Jensen is something of a high flyer in the Finance Sector Union and is also an official of the Queensland Council of Unions, national president of FSA's ANZ Council and a delegate to the ACTU.

As a regional branch official and Gympie bank worker, she was helping lead the charge, both here and in Melbourne, to argue for wage and conditions improvements which will ultimately affect the conditions of workers in all the major banks.

The campaign has at this stage won a foot in the door for potentially significant gains for ANZ bank workers.

As national president of the union's ANZ Council, a position she has held for five years, she spends much of what would otherwise be leisure time flying around Australia.

And she freely admits, the negotiating process can be a lengthy one, where victory goes often enough to those who persevere.

"We're only asking 4%. They offered 3% and wanted very big trade-offs.

"And they're making very large profits.

"I love employers to make money, but I want them to be fair to their workers as well," she said.

"We'll be back at the table in June to negotiate."

Her commitment over 24 years has now been recognised with her Regional Activism Award, presented by the Queensland Council of Unions.

All this makes for a very big event in the tiny town of Theebine, where she lives with her country performer husband Graeme. "It takes up a lot of time," she said.

"When I travel with Graeme, it call in to the bank branches to talk to the members while we're there.

"The national secretary, the national assistant secretary and the state secretary are coming to Theebine for my birthday," she said, a big event indeed for the tiny township where she grew up..