On Monday this week Queensland Branch Council met and unanimously approved a trial operational merger - NOT a union merger - between the Queensland organising teams of the Alliance and the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers of Australia (APESMA). A message to members today from the Alliance federal office - sent without consulting the Queensland Branch Council - may have given the impression that the Alliance and APESMA are on the brink of merging.
Not so, although both unions are looking, tentatively, at a possible merger.
As was explained last year when the possibility of a merger with the CPSU was mooted, the Alliance faces a financial crisis within a couple of years unless something is done. This approaching crisis has been brought about by technological changes which have badly affected our media and equity membership levels, along with the global financial downturn, which affected just about everything. Our finances are healthy at the moment but cannot stay that way unless we make substantial changes.
The Alliance is examining many different options. Nothing has been decided about any merger, and nothing will be decided without approval by members. If any merger is formally proposed, members will be asked to vote in a referendum, and members will decide. And well before that happens, if it does, members will be consulted, their opinions sought and their opinions listened to.
However the trial operational merger in Queensland is worth exploring regardless of what we might decide to do down the track. If it works then it will provide immediate tangible benefits to members from cost savings and a boost in organising power.
I believe it will work, and that members will notice very little difference when they contact the Alliance office. But our organising ability, and APESMA's, will show a significant improvement.
Stand by for a more comprehensive explanation in the next few days. This brief Queensland Branch bulletin is being posted solely because of the possibility of misunderstanding arising from today's Federal office message.
Terry O'Connor
MEAA Queensland Secretary
