2025 Anna Stewart Memorial Project
2025 marks 40 years of the Anna Stewart Memorial Project (ASMP) in South Australia.
ASMP presents a unique opportunity for union women interested in building their skills, union knowledge and networks. It also enables them to play a more active role in the IEU, whether that be their worksite, sector or the broader union level.
There are over 20 participants in this year’s program from 10 different unions.
Participants have just completed their first week of the program and will come together for a further 3 days in late June, 2 days of which are work shadowing in another union.
Our IEU participant, Jane Gibson from St Joseph’s School – Port Lincoln (pictured below), shares her perspective of the program so far.
I am grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the Anna Stewart Memorial Project (ASMP) held in Adelaide. As someone living and working remotely, the opportunity to travel and engage in a week-long conference focused on union education, women’s leadership and advocacy was energising.
Encouraged by members of the Independent Education Union (IEU) to apply, I saw the project as a pathway to strengthen my confidence, develop practical skills and deepen my understanding of unionism. While I have always felt passionate about social justice and the role of unions, I was not always sure how to be active beyond paying my membership. With over 30 years of union membership, my understanding was that the union was an insurance policy, just in case something went wrong for me or a colleague. The ASMP expanded that view.
The project provided me with a framework to do advocacy. In the workplace we need to build a culture of collaboration, openness and a collective voice. When we stand together on workplace issues we have power, density and become a force for fairness. Throughout the week, I was privileged to take part in:
- A forum where women from a range of industries, openly shared their union stories and the challenges they have faced. There was a lot of laughter and collective strength.
- Education on union history, policy and activism — this was facilitated by the clever and hilarious Catherine Story (Educator for ACTU).
- Shadowing opportunities where I was mentored by Meredith Farmer, Lead Organiser at the IEU. Meredith and the team at the IEU are wise, committed and hard working.
The Anna Stewart Memorial Project has helped me move from being a union member who genuinely cares about the rights and conditions of others in the workplace to actively planning for activism. It has helped me understand how to engage in meaningful conversations and encourage others to become a little more involved in their union, particularly at the Sub-Branch level. Collective activism can help us to ‘push up’ for working conditions that support true work-life balance. Work should not take over our lives. All workers and their families deserve time, emotional space and physical energy to live fully. Workplace rights are everyone’s rights.
My heartfelt thanks to the IEU for their support and to all the women who were part of the Anna Stewart Memorial Project, 2025. Anna Stewart was a legend of the union movement, and her legacy is a 40-year gentle ripple across every industry in Australia.
Blessings Comrades,
Jane Gibson
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Interested in joining the ASMP in the future? Want to find out more about the program? Visit the ASMP information web page here: https://saunions.org.au/training-centre/asmp
If you are a past graduate of ASMP, keep an eye out for your personal invitation to join us at the 40th Anniversary celebrations to be held on the afternoon of Friday June 27.
