My name is Abbey Crampton and I was lucky enough to be selected as a joint recipient for this year’s Anna Stewart Memorial Project, with fellow comrade Molly Ryan.
What a week to be in the office. Through being notified of the proposed cuts to staffing, listening intently to the Legislative Assembly and hearing from our members, I truly saw the office at its peak. Even through this, every member of the office met with me to discuss my goals and intentions as an activist and educator. Seeing the AEU ACT office work through this behind the scenes was highly galvanising. It was exactly why I am proud to be a unionist with the AEU and reaffirmed this is exactly where I want to be.
Throughout the week, with Katie, Ingrid and Owen I visited a range of sites across every network, along with our Teacher’s Health representative Jody. Meeting with other members, discussing our genuine and shared interests and concerns was a highlight of my week.
Conveniently, the Sub-branch Representative Training was also held during the week, run by our amazing Lead Organiser Jennifer Dive. We learnt strategies on how to harness our membership density to create collective engagement, which in turn, is where our power lies as a sub-branch and a union as a whole. Connecting with other reps, both newly appointed and long-serving, gave me confidence in returning to my site and empowering my own colleagues to enact their power.
I am also very excited to be attending the AEU Federal Women’s Conference later this month, with other AEU ACT delegates in Melbourne. The theme this year is Safe, Equal, Respected. I am eager to hear from keynote speakers and other AEU members from around Australia, as we address gendered violence and misogyny, as well as the emerging issue of Reproductive Health Leave in our workplace.
I am incredibly thankful to the AEU ACT office and extend my gratitude to our Women’s Officer, Katie Slater. As a young female New Educator, I had been told, from well-meaning colleagues, to wait. To just “survive”, my time will come. Although I reluctantly began waiting, I asked myself: what exactly was I waiting for? There are very few spaces designed to encourage and develop young women to confidently step into leadership, especially in an educational context. Initiatives such as the Anna Stewart Memorial Project bridge this gap. It exemplified not only the need, but the success of female-led opportunities like this and how without them, we would still be waiting. As a result of this program, I am now returning to my sub-branch as a highly confident President and Councillor and aim to use my privilege in this position to help others feel the same. So, I strongly encourage any female or gender diverse AEU member to apply for this program. It’s empowering, transformative and exactly what we need more of.
We do not need to wait around.