The NSWNMA has grown to become the 10th largest union in Australia, Assistant General Secretary Michael Whaites told Annual Conference.

“Australia’s nursing and midwifery unions are continuing to grow: One in five trade unionists in this country is a nurse or a midwife,” he said.

“While our membership growth is strong, we must ensure we are providing services and support to members and that includes supporting branch officials and delegates and your branches.”

Michael said the NSWNMA is revamping its trade union training courses with new course content including online and face to face training opportunities.

He said leaders of all unions “must be held accountable for the actions we take on your behalf, and accountability requires strong democratic structures”.

“While we have one of the most democratic structures in the union movement we must not rest on what we have always done.

“That means being open to exploring new ways of doing things.

“We have listened to delegates and explored our organising resources and our voting systems.

“The resulting reports help us to respond to your needs and we welcome that process.”

Michael said the cornerstone of being a strong united union is “the ability for members to meet in their workplaces and bring the voice of their members to this annual conference to help shape our direction and our democracy”.

“Issues need to be discussed, investigated and resolved for the betterment of the union and I’m proud that our union has both the democratic  structures and processes to do this crucial work together.”