Federal Council – Facing the future with confidence

How do we sustain a strong and viable union that builds power at work for the people who inform and entertain? That’s the key question the Federal Council of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance will be facing when it meets in Sydney this week.

The Federal Council brings together 81 members from across all sections of the Alliance and around Australia and New Zealand to determine the policies and strategies that will guide the union over the next two years.

Since our last Federal Council in February 2008, the global financial crisis has accelerated the trends that have been reshaping the media and entertainment industries.

Federal Council will meet at the Crowne Plaza in Coogee on Friday afternoon and Saturday to discuss how the union can turn the rapid changes reshaping our industries to the benefit of members. The new industrial relations laws which give unions the right to collectively bargain will be a key focus of the strategy.

The Council will be considering a broad range of options for restructure and renewal, including better wages and conditions through collective bargaining, key campaigns around the policies that shape the industry and communicating the changes we confront.

It will look at how we get the resources we need to achieve our goals including more effective use of what we have, growing membership in key areas and partnering with other organisations to build our strength.

As part of its strategic direction, the Council will look at how we ensure our members are engaged and involved in the issues that affect them. This is about building strength, capitalising on resources and continuing to operate as an effective community for the people who inform and entertain Australia and New Zealand.

The Council will hear from a range of guest speakers including the minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett, the secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Jeff Lawrence, ACTU advocate, Cath Bowtel and the International Federation of Journalists’ China press freedom project co-ordinator, Serenade Woo.

In the lead up to Federal Council, the Media, Equity, and ATAEA sections of the Alliance will meet to discuss the issues affecting their industries. The Equity meeting today follows last night’s gala award ceremony at which stage stalwart Peter Carroll was honoured with the inaugural Equity Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Foxtel. The Media section will meet tomorrow before the annual Walkley Awards at Royal Randwick, where Australia’s top journalists, photographers and artists of 2009 will be recognised. The ATAEA section will meet on Friday morning.