Union Delegate Activity Time (UDAT) is now a part of our Public Health System Award and gives members access to leave for union duties.

The rollout of UDAT is progressing across the public health sector. It is a significant win that recognises the role of branch officials carrying out union activity.

UDAT may be used by eligible branch officials to distribute Association information, hold discussions with members and potential members, and engage workers around union initiatives.

Branch officials who have already accessed UDAT are using the paid time effectively to support member engagement and branch activity. This includes preparing for biennial general meetings, conducting member surveys, and ensuring members are kept informed with current updates and advice from the Association.

The progressive rollout of UDAT strengthens the capacity of our branch officials to organise, communicate and advocate on behalf of members in the workplace. It will play a significant role in strengthening our union democracy.

Trying to involve time-poor nurses and midwives in union branch activity has always been a challenge, says Amanda Bailey Derrett, Secretary of the Coffs Harbour Hospital Branch.

“Before UDAT, we struggled to get everyone off the floor to get to branch meetings and reasonable workload committee meetings, so they tended to get postponed or cancelled.

“And we didn’t ever really find the time to walk around and talk to members because workloads, as everyone knows, are so high that getting off the floor to be able to do anything is very difficult.”

Amanda says that UDAT gives delegates increased recognition and legitimacy. She also says that while it is “early days”, her branch has already put processes in place to maximise its potential.

“We’ve always had a group chat. So, we selected some dates every eight weeks and booked a room in the education centre with a recurring booking every eight weeks. And then just put out the message on the group chat for delegates to apply for the leave on those dates in advance, and then we will all meet up.

“We have also requested that the reasonable workload committee meetings be scheduled on those dates.”

Amanda says having time to build relationships with members in what is a very large regional hospital will be a major benefit for the branch.

“We hope to get more engagement from members and hopefully have the time to just get around and talk to members. And when they see that we have a strong branch and a strong union presence, other members will want to get more involved and might want to take on a role in the branch.”

Amanda believes that in some workplaces, UDAT may alleviate the anxiety that some nurses and midwives might have about joining the union for fear of a negative management reaction.

“I think that if staff can see us having fun together as well and just chatting to people and showing the positive aspects of being involved, and that we have the backing of management to do what we do, then hopefully that also helps gives us power and reduces that fear.

“I guess one other little bonus is that we’ve got some people that are very time poor, and I think that turns a lot of people off being a branch official. And so, in this case when you can actually do this day within your paid work time and not have to sacrifice your own time to commit to branch duties, it makes it a lot easier to be a part of the branch.”

What the Award says about UDAT

Clause 54 of the Award says:

(vi) An elected Association Official (for the purposes of this subclause ‘elected Association official’ is defined as the elected Branch Delegate, Branch Secretary and Branch President pursuant to the NSWNMA’s rules) shall be allowed 8 hours every 8 weeks during work time for the purposes of distributing official association publications and holding discussions with employees in the workplace (in addition to that as provided for in (i)-(v) above) and such period shall be deemed work time, provided:

1. the rostering of such time, through request prior to roster publication, is subject to not requiring rostered overtime or agency staff to be rostered in replacement where such practices do not already exist
2. subject to operational requirements, the elected Association Official can be required to perform work functions throughout such paid work time, and in such circumstances be provided with an alternative equivalent period throughout the 8-week period; and
3. the Association provides an updated list of elected Association Officials, pursuant to their rules, when requested; and
4. for each hospital or workplace, the employer is not required to allow paid work time for more than one elected Association Official per every 50 full time equivalent (of nursing/ midwifery) per hospital or workplace.