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           Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Jul-Aug 2008        |
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Women@Work: Your StoriesMichelle Mackay - straddle jockeyMichelle Mackay has been a Straddle Driver at P&O West Swanson Dock in Melbourne for two years.
She also works at Appleton Bulk & General on occasion, mostly glutting (packing with wooden blocks) the stacks of steel etc as they are unloaded. Recently Michelle has become active in the Union and started attending stop work meetings and other things like the MCG rally. She has gone to New Zealand to be a guest at the NZ women's education seminar and completed delegate training. She says "even though I'm not a delegate at my worksite, there is still lots I can do and learn by being an activist." Along with Mich-Elle Myers, she has been working in the position of Women's Liaison Officer since Karen Leavy stepped down. "It's not an easy job" she says. "Karen did an amazing job for a long time. We are filling in until the election, when we'll get another woman elected to the one day a week, paid position." Michelle also went to the ACTU Congress, representing the MUA women's committee. It was the first time she'd been to anything so huge and said it was "fantastic". Sharran Burrows held a women's breakfast where Michelle got to meet many strong female union reps and said "it opened my eyes to the role we can play in our own organisation. We aren't doing enough." Michelle is interested in painting and really enjoyed making the MUA's VIC WOMEN banner. She chose the brightest color material she could find and sewed it herself. She got pictures relating to all the jobs women do in Victoria's MUA and created lino stencils of them. Milli, Kim, Carol and Michelle painted the banner during their breaks on a night shift. It was Kim's idea to write SPOT I and Spot II next to the pictures of the Spirit of Tasmania (the ships' nicknames), and to create a car stencil to represent the women unloading cars at Web Dock. The most complex picture is the lock with a ship and wharf representing the port security women of the MUA. Michelle admires Oprah for her book club promoting literacy in the US and her many charitable works. As a bookworm herself, Michelle is an advocate of reading for both knowledge and pleasure. In the future Michelle hopes more women will join her work places, although she considers herself lucky to have about twenty women at P&O, there are only two women working full-time at Appleton Dock. She is also looking forwards to having a network of Victorian MUA women, and a stronger sense of community within her workplace. Michelle thinks it's important that women start moving forward in the MUA ranks so ultimately there are trained, active women working side by side with the men at all levels of the Union. |
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