Time for Handover
Get involved
Nominations are open

The union is made of branches. Branches are made of you.

Nurses, midwives and carers keep asking what the union is doing for them. The better question is what we are doing for each other. If you have ever sat through a branch meeting thinking someone should do something about this, then this page is that something.

Put a name forward
Read this first

What you are actually signing up for

Council is where the strength of this union either gets used or gets wasted. We are building one out of people who do the work, hold the roster and turn up to the branch. That is the whole idea.

You do not need to be a governance expert. You do not need to have done this before. Most of the role is learnable and the Association trains you for it. We care far more about the first list below than the second one.

What you bring

  • A commitment to the values and continued strength of the NSWNMA and ANMF NSW
  • A love of nursing or midwifery, a sense of justice, and respect for the people you work with and care for
  • Willingness to read the Council papers properly and think about them before you walk in
  • Comfort arguing a point, and having your point argued back at you
  • The ability to represent the whole membership, even when that differs from your own view or your branch, and to keep Council business confidential

What you will learn

  • Governance and how a board actually functions
  • Reading financial reports and investment portfolios
  • The compliance and regulatory side of the job
  • Media and spokesperson training, if that ends up being your thing

Nobody expects you to arrive knowing this. You will be trained and supported.

What it will cost you

  • 12 all day Council meetings a year, Tuesdays, in person in Sydney
  • 5 induction days for new Councillors, then at least 2 training days a year
  • Annual Conference, 2 days
  • 5 Committee of Delegates evenings a year, Tuesdays, in person or online
  • Around 12 extraordinary meetings a year, online and out of hours
  • Reading time before every meeting. There are a fair few papers

Travel and accommodation are booked and paid for by the Association.

Before you nominate

Who is eligible

  • You need at least one year of continuous financial membership of the Association at the time of appointment. That means no periods of being unfinancial in that time.
  • Officers of registered organisations must maintain standards of conduct. Under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 there are restrictions on holding office if someone has been convicted of certain offences. The Fair Work Commission website has the detail.

Not sure where you stand? Put your name in anyway and we will work it out with you.

Nominations

Put a name forward

Yours or someone else's. It takes about three minutes. Nominations are confidential and we only use your details to get in touch.

1
Are you putting your hand up, or nominating someone else?
2
Your details
So we can actually call you back.
3
Nominating someone else? Tell us about themSkip if it is you
Plenty of good people will never nominate themselves. That is what this section is for.
4
Why are you still in this job?
Not the interview answer. The real one. We would rather read "I care too much to walk away" than a polished CV.
5
Tell us about something at work that was not right, and what you did about it.
Big or small. A roster, a staffing call, someone being treated badly. We are looking for people who act, not people who complain about it in the tea room.
6
When did you last talk a colleague into something?
Getting someone to a branch meeting, signing up a new member, backing you on a shift, coming to a trivia night. Organising is mostly persuasion, so we want to know you can do it.
7
What is your branch like at the moment?
Thriving, ticking over, or barely exists? Be honest. We would rather know the real picture than a flattering one.
8
The time commitment. How does it land?
Roughly 12 all day Tuesday meetings in Sydney, 2 or more training days, Annual Conference, 5 Delegates evenings, around 12 out of hours online meetings, plus reading. Travel and accommodation are paid for.
9
Councillors get across detailed papers before every meeting, finances and governance included. Thoughts?
10
Sometimes you will argue hard, lose, and then represent the whole membership anyway. Comfortable with that?
11
Anything else, or anyone else we should be talking to?Optional
Names welcome. So is anything this form did not think to ask.
12
The non negotiables

Confidential. A real person will read it and get back to you.

Not sure it is for you?

Put the name in anyway and we will have the conversation. Or nominate the colleague you already thought of while reading this. Half of them will never put their own hand up.

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