Association president Coral Levett is stepping down after almost 16 years in the chair.

 The NSWNMA had around 50,000 members when Coral Levett was elected president in 2003. As she prepares to step down from the role nearly 16 years later, membership has grown to almost 64,500.

That makes the Association a rare exception in an era when union membership generally has been stagnant or in decline.

“Very few unions can claim the continuous growth that we have had,” Coral says.

“It shows nurses are proud to be Association members. For most nurses, joining the union is something you do when you start work. They feel comfortable joining an organisation that is exclusively for nurses and midwives who share common interests and goals.”

After chairing 16 annual conferences, and many more committee of delegates and council meetings, Coral will retire as president in November.

“I think I’ve reached my peak in that role and it’s time to give someone else a go,” she says.

It won’t be the end of Coral’s union involvement as she will remain a delegate of her local branch, the South Eastern Sydney Nurse and Midwifery Managers’ branch.

Coral works as a nurse manager in charge of student under-graduate placement for hospitals in South Eastern Sydney Local Health District.

She started as a student nurse in Canberra before moving to St George Hospital in Sydney in 1984. She became St George branch delegate in 1995 after her predecessor, a senior manager, was instructed to close a ward.

“Members wanted to fight to keep the ward open and convinced the manager to step down from her branch position because they believed she had a conflict of interest. We succeeded in saving the ward,” Coral says.

“I became a branch official reluctantly when no one else wanted to do it but I found I really enjoyed being an advocate for our members.

“I got a lot of satisfaction from representing less confident staff members in disputes with their managers.”

A fighter and a winner

In 1996, the state government decided to hand St George Hospital – a longstanding public facility with strong community support – over to the Catholic Sisters of Charity to be run as a non-government hospital in a merger with Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital.

Over the next few weeks, Coral led a spirited campaign against the takeover.

“Within a few hours of the announcement we filled the hospital grounds with a protest meeting of more than 600 nurses, other health workers and community members. That was followed by rallies and marches in the streets.

“The community was adamant they did not want to lose their public hospital, the nurses fought hard and the government backed down. St George remains public today.”

As president, Coral has chaired many memorable meetings. The biggest was a 2010 rally for better staffing, which drew more than 5000 nurses to Sydney’s Olympic stadium and was streamed live to rallies at 17 regional centres.

A pillar of our union

Coral has served on a long list of union committees including the Edith Cavell Trust, professional issues committees, The Lamp editorial committee, log of claims committees and staff selection committees.

She has represented the Association internationally including at several meetings of the South Pacific Nurses Forum.

The recent NSWNMA annual conference heard tributes to Coral from speakers including General Secretary Brett Holmes and Assistant General Secretary Judith Kiejda.

Brett said Coral had set a very high benchmark for any future president to aspire to.

“Coral must have chaired more than a thousand meetings with a level of expertise and aplomb second to none,” he said.

“Most importantly, Coral has provided sage advice, guidance, loyalty backed by courage to always voice her views and hold Judith and me to account.

“She has pulled us all into line with such finesse over the years and with an incredible sense of humour and humble nature.”

Judith Kiejda said Coral had worked tirelessly for both the Association and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation including 12 years as ANMF Federal president.

“I personally want to thank you for the example you have set me,” Judith said. “You are a champion for all of our members and you will be one seriously hard act to follow.”

Asked how the union has changed during her time as president, Coral nominates strong growth in professional education, provision of accident insurance for travel to and from work and enhanced training of union delegates.

“Under Brett and Judith’s leadership we are far more consultative with our members than we have ever been. Their level of transparency, openness and communication with members is exceptional.

“Nurses are more politically aware and prepared to campaign to achieve a better health system for patients and staff.

“We also engage our members in community action like never before. We encourage and support them to get active – for example by lobbying their local MPs – and show members that political action is an important way of achieving change.”

Letters to the Editor
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Four letters are published in the Lamp each month and the letter chosen as Letter of the Month will win a gift card. Please include a high-resolution photo along with your name, address, phone and membership number. You can submit your letter by emailing the Lamp: lamp@nswnma.asn.au