Union members hit phones for Yes campaign

The power of the union movement has been successfully harvested by the same-sex marriage Yes campaign.

Christina Seaton-Thomson. Picture; Glenn Hunt.

The Yes campaign on same-sex marriage has successfully harnessed the power of the union movement to help reach thousands of voters.

The labour movement is mobilising members across the nation to campaign in favour of same-sex marriage by hosting “call-outs” in which union volunteers hit the phones to persuade people to vote Yes.

The general secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, Ros McLennan, told The Australian a call-out was being held this evening at QCU headquarters in South Brisbane. She hoped for a “full complement of eager volunteers”.

The Victorian Trades Hall Council has also been organising support from union volunteers for call-outs in Melbourne aimed at “calling people from all around Australia to let them know how to make a vote for equality”.

Ms McLennan said members from a variety of unions “across all industries” had been participating in the QCU call-outs, noting they were not paid for their time and the costs of the calls were being covered by the Australian Marriage Equality campaign.

“Unions have always stood up against discrimination and fought for equality,” Ms McLennan said. “That’s essential to our values and our vision ... We can bring our strength to bear to help make this country a better and fairer place for everyone.”

But the drive by some unions to encourage members to participate in the Yes campaign has isolated those who feel the possible redefinition of marriage is an issue beyond the core business of the labour movement.

Christina Seaton-Thomson, a 66-year-old who has worked as a nurse for 50 years, told the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union this week she was resigning her membership because of an e-mail she had received encouraging her to participate in the QCU call-out this evening.

The e-mail said: “Marriage equality is union business because equality for all goes to the heart of what unions are about.”

Ms Seaton-Thomson told The Australian that this statement “touched a very raw spot with me’’.

“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back ... We’re drifting further and further away from what union business should be about,” she said.

In her resignation letter, Ms Seaton-Thomson said the notion that marriage equality was “what unions are about” was “offensive to my values and my professional integrity”.

“I have an intellectual, social and moral compass that is independent and also self-operating,” she said.

QNMU secretary Beth Mohle said yesterday the formal policy of the union was “supportive of a Yes vote” and noted there were “health implications of not having equal marriage rights for LGBTIQ” individuals.

“We’ve got a position that was endorsed at our state annual conference in 2014 in relation to marriage equality,” Ms Mohle said. “This is consistent with the position of our national union, which is the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, which is to support a Yes vote.”

Pressed on how she would respond to members who felt isolated by the labour movement campaigning for same-sex marriage, Ms McLennan said she had been married for 13 years to the “world’s most patient man’’.

“(Gay people) having the right to get married to the person they love, is not going to diminish the love I have with my husband one iota,” she said.