Cairns: Far North Queensland’s most powerful union bosses revealed
These 17 powerful Far North union bosses have mobilised a small army of comrades as the federal election draws near. SEE THE LIST
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THE union movement is always toiling away in the background in the fight for workers’ rights – but something very special happens when an election rolls around.
Just months remain before federal candidates will go back to the polls and battle it out for the seat of Leichhardt.
That means union activity is about to reach fever pitch.
Here are the powerful union generals, lieutenants and some particularly influential rank-and-file grunts who are going to feature in the upcoming political stoush.
They come from a broad spectrum of sectors and unions, but they all have one thing in common – a belief in working Australians and a relentless pursuit of fair conditions.
Trish Berrill
Queensland Council of Unions
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch has a few thorns in his side, and is guaranteed to cop some gut pain from Trish Berrill over the coming months.
The QCU’s Cairns branch president is a powerhouse who does not waver in her demands for penalty rates, fair conditions and a fair go for the region’s workers.
She has led protests over Cairns Hospital staff shortages, stalled wage negotiations with Cairns Airport and recently for the reinstatement of JobKeeper.
She is not Mr Entsch’s biggest fan.
“I don’t think there’s been a big enough push,” she responded to the Leichhardt MP’s calls for tourism support.
“You are an elected member and looking after your constituents.
“You should be on the front page of the Cairns Post and all the TV networks every night telling Queenslanders what this federal government is doing for us up here.
“And that’s not happening.”
Elida Faith
Community and Public Sector Union
The Labor candidate for Leichhardt worked as a CPSU workplace leader and Centrelink call centre employee for 12 years, before throwing her hat into the ring to topple Warren Entsch in 2019.
She is back for round two and has amassed a small union army to help push her across the line.
The ALP’s factional system means union affiliations are at its very core, and Ms Faith’s firm entrenchment in the Labor Left faction has worked in her favour.
The powerful faction, also known as the Socialist Left and Progressive Left, boasts would-be Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese as a member.
Back in 2018, Ms Faith was a first-time candidate against a political veteran who had already won all seven elections he had contested.
It was always going to be a tough mountain to climb.
This year Ms Faith again has the entire ALP and union machine behind her and a lot more experience to take to the front line.
Labor insiders say the party sees Leichhardt as one of its biggest chances to win seats in the 2022 election – and a victory in the Far North would almost certainly herald a new government of Australia.
The party, and the unions, can be expected to throw their full arsenal at the electorate over the coming months.
Rob Hill
Electrical Trades Union
The city’s most well-known union organiser does not pull any punches when it comes to fighting for workers’ rights.
He is involved in more enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations than you can poke a stick at – including current separate dialogue with Cairns Regional Council and the Mulgrave Mill.
Mr Hill, who has also been heavily involved in the Queensland Council of Unions, will be throwing his weight behind Labor’s campaign in the upcoming federal election.
However, he is not afraid of speaking out against Labor policies and management that negatively affect workers.
He has been an outspoken in support of Cairns Hospital workers that felt the facility was unsafe for patients and staff.
He also recently called for the chief of the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service to resign over a failure to pay six workers for their Covid leave for three weeks.
“This is disgusting behaviour from the hospital,” he said.
“One of our members is under severe financial hardship and stress, he was worried about how he would feed his family yesterday.
“Now another night goes by and he hasn’t been paid what he’s owed.”
Krissie Bishop
Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union
A passionate defender of workers’ rights, Ms Bishop has been manning the battlelines for the Far North’s nurses and midwives for years.
The QNMU Cairns organiser has led protests about “appalling” conditions in a Far North aged care centre where up to 116 elderly residents were reportedly being cared for by a single registered nurse.
“Management’s decision to dangerously understaff this facility means elderly residents are suffering,” she said at the time.
She has also been heavily involved in Cairns Hospital’s response to Covid – particularly on screening and other rules that affect staff every day.
It is understood Ms Bishop has put her union activities on hold to work full-time on Labor candidate for Leichhardt Elida Faith’s campaign.
That included accompanying her comrade on a recent week-long trip to Cape York.
She will be a potent ally, having proved her chops over years in the unions and her ability to inspire crowds at countless rallies.
Rolly Cummins
CFMEU
A fierce union soldier with lungs like foghorns, Rolly Cummins is an expert at whipping a crowd into a frenzy at rallies.
He can often be found leading chants while waving the red and white CFMEU flag – and colourful language can sometimes be involved.
On one occasion, it landed him in hot water.
Mr Cummins became the first union official to ever be charged with “intimidating” a government safety inspector after screaming “you’re a f***ing dog” in his face three times on a Cairns job site.
He successfully appealed his conviction over the matter last year, having been fined $5000 and ordered to pay $7200 in court costs in 2020.
The case stemmed from an incident at the Cairns Performing Arts Centre construction site in April 2018.
Mr Cummins did not deny the “verbal outburst” but said it was excusable because of the inspector’s conduct immediately before the outburst.
Mr Cummins contended that as he showed an iPad image to the inspector and pointed out deficiencies in the emergency evacuation plan, the inspector moved his arm and pointed his finger close to the CFMEU logo on Mr Cummins’ shirt and aggressively said: “Is that what the CFMEU teaches you? Unsafe work practices?”
Mr Cummins argued he then felt “belittled, embarrassed, and intimidated and responded as he did”.
In deciding to allow Mr Cummins’ appeal and setting aside the earlier orders, District Court Judge Dean Morzone said the reasons for Magistrate Catherine Benson’s decision were “inadequate to support the verdict”.
Judge Morzone decided against remitting the matter for retrial.
Matt Smith
Together Union
He was better known as a gun basketball player and veteran of the Cairns Taipans in the NBL, but Matt Smith has forged a new path since his sporting retirement in 2018.
Mr Smith took over the role as Together’s Cairns organiser in April last year after the death of his predecessor, Deb Pearson.
His first order of business was to co-ordinate workplace visits with members in Queensland Health and schools.
The Together Union covers a range of industries and professions including health professionals, child protection and disability support workers, scientists, administrative professionals, schools officers, environmental protection workers, TAFE teachers, prison officers, contact centre workers, airline staff and workers from state government sectors and several areas of the private sector.
Covering that sort of a cross-section is definitely a tall order – and who better than a 2.1m-tall former baller to take on the job.
Craig Crawford
United Voice
Before he was a member of parliament, Craig Crawford was a paramedic and regional representative for the United Voice union.
He spent four years fighting for the rights of paramedics and emergency chopper crews across the Far North – a point that was critical to his election in 2015.
The Barron River MP had also been a union delegate in Victoria before moving to Queensland.
Like Elida Faith, Mr Crawford is a stalwart of the powerful Labor Left faction and enjoys significant union support when the election rolls around.
He has been a rising star of Queensland Labor as a second-term MP and currently oversees the Seniors and Disability Services, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships portfolios.
He was previously the Fire and Emergency Services minister.
Mr Crawford struck a minor controversy during the 2020 election after placards brandishing his face and name directed voters to put the LNP last.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who had made it clear all Labor candidates were to put One Nation last, said anyone flouting her rule would be “read the riot act”.
Mr Crawford brushed off the criticism, saying they were not his placards but those of the unions who supported him.
“They’re from the union movement,” he said.
“They’re not my volunteers.
“My how-to-vote has clearly got the LNP third, and that’s there for everyone to see.”
David Beckham
Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union
David Beckham has been shooting to prominence as a rising star of the union movement in recent years.
The enrolled nurse has been a bold advocate for getting the region’s health workers the support they need.
He has been outspoken about Cairns Hospital’s understaffing issues as worker numbers fail to increase in tandem with rising patient presentations.
Back in 2019, he made it clear just how stressful the situation had become with nurses working excessive overtime and double shifts, and rosters being published with significant deficits.
“Patients were getting upset and aggressive, so (the situation) was putting everyone else at risk as well as ourselves,” he warned.
More recently, he has raised serious concerns about a non-functional $34m electronic medical record system being used in the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service.
He said the union was worried about reports of doctors refusing to use the system due to safety concerns.
“This action has led to multiple patient records being used,” he said.
“The use of multiple records increases concerns for patient safety and significantly increased nurse workloads.
“The QNMU maintains the system should be paused until all issues are addressed.
“We also want to see all staff using a uniform alternative system while this occurring.”
Richie Bates
Rail, Tram and Bus Union, Australian Workers’ Union
Rewind to 2019 and Richie Bates was a Cairns regional councillor and frontrunner for Labor preselection to contest Leichhardt in the federal election.
He was ultimately beaten to the punch by Elida Faith and would go on to lose the next local government elections to Amy Eden by the slimmest of margins.
However, Mr Bates remains a prominent figure in the union movement and Cairns branch president of the ALP.
These days he works as an adviser to Cairns MP Michael Healy in his position as assistant tourism minister, having previously been his campaign manager in two successful elections.
Mr Bates’ popularity with union members was on show back in 2018, when he was the only councillor to show his face at a rally of workers on strike to protest against failed wage negotiations.
“Councillors had their pay rises for the past four years, at least 2 per cent every year,” he said to a raucous round of applause.
“You people have got nothing.
“The $1500 they offered you as an incentive a couple of years ago, just before Christmas, turned into 900 bucks.
“It equates to nothing, it’s not on your hourly rate, it doesn’t go on your superannuation, and you’ve waited long enough.”
Whether the future holds more political candidacy for Mr Bates remains to be seen.
The next local government elections will be held in 2024.
Heath Mitchell
United Workers Union
The United Workers Union describes itself as the biggest blue-collar union in Australia, with more than 150,000 workers across 45 industries.
The man at its helm in our part of the world is Cairns branch president Heath Mitchell.
He can often be found leading chants and waving flags at protests outside Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch’s electorate office – and he will be firmly in Elida Faith’s camp as the federal campaign heats up.
Mr Mitchell was a dogged campaigner for JobKeeper to be rebooted as Covid wiped out the bank accounts of tourism workers.
In 2018, he was also at the forefront of public demands to get fair pay for childcare workers.
“There is more people leaving early childhood education and care than coming into it, so there is a crisis in the workforce,” he said.
“People love the idea of working with kids but they find after they have been doing it a few months they can’t afford to stay in the industry.”
Sammy Blocksidge
Queensland Teachers’ Union
Sammy Blocksidge is one of the key voices fighting for the rights of teachers in this region as the QTU’s Far North organiser.
She took on the important role last year and has been out and about meeting educators across the Far North to hear their concerns.
Like most industries, much of the education sector’s most recent worries had something to do with Covid.
Ms Blocksidge told the Cairns Post late last year the QTU would not oppose vaccine mandates for teachers – but stressed the full weight of the union would be felt if they were sacked despite having an exemption.
“We’ll obviously support members with genuine health exemptions,” she said.
“If they are not falling within the health exemption category, we won’t be supporting legal action in that instance.”
Senator Nita Green
Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union
Before she became a household name in the Far North, Nita Green was an industrial officer for the AMWU down in Brisbane.
Her prominence rose when she became Queensland field director for the marriage equality campaign in 2017, and she also worked as a staffer for Senator Murray Watt.
All of those affiliations set the scene for her political career – and a shift to the perpetually under-represented Far North Queensland.
Senators are elected for six years in Australia so Sen Green will be able to sit this election out and focus her attention to getting party-mate Elida Faith across the line in Leichhardt.
She remains a passionate campaigner for bringing manufacturing jobs back to regional Queensland – one of the chief platforms of the union where she cut her teeth.
“Years of LNP neglect means Australia has been left behind and now ranks last in manufacturing self-sufficiency when compared to the world’s developed economies,” she wrote on a petition.
“Under their watch car manufacturing has collapsed, traineeships and apprenticeships have plummeted and no long-term plan to support the sector is in sight.
“We can do better.
“Labor’s commitment to roll out a National Rail Manufacturing Plan will create thousands of jobs and enrich our skills in heavy manufacturing.”
Sandy Donald
Together Union
Cairns Hospital anaesthetist Sandy Donald is the senior vice-president of Together Queensland and a straight-shooting advocate for health workers in the Far North.
He has been awarded life membership in the union and never falters when it comes to calling out poor conditions that lead to bad outcomes for staff and patients.
Dr Donald has described Cairns Hospital as “unsafe” and “horribly overcrowded” and recently spoke out in 2020 about rising assaults on employees.
“Health workers are already under extra stress from Covid, and even witnessing aggression increases the pressure on them,” he said.
“Not only doctors and nurses, but also health practitioners, support staff and clerical staff can be victims.
“While drugs like ice can cause outbursts of violence, alcohol remains the commonest cause.”
Steven Blacklow
Australian Council of Trade Unions
A champion of casual workers’ rights, Steven Blacklow has been an organiser for the Australian Council of Trade Unions since 2015.
He lists his job title as a graphic designer and pre-press specialist by trade but has also made it a personal mission to improve workers’ rights and conditions.
In 2018, he was involved in a protest outside Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch’s office over insecurity surrounding casual and short-term employment contracts.
Mr Blacklow said workers had “no access to sick leave, no holidays, no job security, little bargaining power and severely reduced capacity to get home loans”.
He can be expected to feature in Labor’s campaign in Leichhardt as the next few months wear on.
Craig Hards
Transport Workers Union
Enterprise bargaining is one of the most critical functions a union can do, and one that Craig Hards is intimately involved in.
He is better known as the president of the Cairns Saints Football Club, but Mr Hards is also a diligent campaigner for worker rights.
Some of the TWU organiser’s recent work has included meeting with members at Cairns Airport to discuss negotiations with their new Queensland regional agreement.
He has also been out to see frontline Cairns Regional Council workers who have been toiling through the pandemic.
His work to find out exactly what they need will prove important as negotiations with the council – which can be notoriously slow and laced by controversy – move along.
Dave Lyon
Maritime Union of Australia
One of the functions of unions is to operate the background with all kinds of grunt work that everyday citizens never see.
Of course, there is also the other side – when protests, strikes and loud industrial action is needed to get a message across.
MUA North Queensland organiser Dave Lyon became one of the public faces of the union movement when it took aim at Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch in 2019.
A poll of 682 voters in the electorate found 80 per cent of locals thought Australia should maintain its own shipping fleet.
The MUA was singling out Mr Entsch for a perceived failure to stand up for local seafarers when BHP axed the last Australian-crewed iron ore vessels earlier that year.
Mr Lyon and his ilk can be expected to hit the hustings again as the federal election draws near.
Gil Dyett
Queensland Police Union
The seasoned Cairns-based police officer has been kicking goals since being appointed to the police union’s executive in mid-2021.
He took over the reins as Far North regional rep from Sergeant Marty Bristow after his diligent decade-long representation of members.
Sgt Dyett works on general duties at the Cairns station and has been the Cairns union branch president since 2016.
He has worked all over the Far North with stints up in the Cape, as well as the Stock Squad and CIB in Mareeba.
“I am a believer in the union and the movement in general,” Sgt Dyett said in the QPU’s official publication, Police Journal.
“As well as supporting others going through tough times, I have had my fair share of investigations as the subject member.
“I have received benefits from welfare to peer support, and I am committed to providing the same for anyone who needs it.”
Sgt Dyett has been front and centre in negotiations that have helped the Far North policing region secure an assurance of 150 new police officers over the next few years.
He has also helped lock down the guarantee of 12 new police by the end of this financial year, and another 50 by July 2023.
He was at the scene of the horrific alleged stolen car crash that killed 14-year-old Bradley Smith and left five other teens in hospital in February 2022.
“It’s a terrible thing for all involved, the families, and it’s a very difficult job for the first responders,” he said.
“I was on scene after the event and the first responders there, it was a very confronting situation.”
Like all of the region’s police service, he is eagerly awaitingmajor renovations at the Cairns station.
“Anyone who has been in Cairns a while knows about the Cairns station’s carpet, so we are waiting with great anticipation,” he said in Police Journal.
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Originally published as Cairns: Far North Queensland’s most powerful union bosses revealed
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