Member Profile: Mia [Recycling Industry]

A relatively new AWU member, Mia has been working in the recycling industry for five years, more recently she was picked to be a part of the Ethics Committee at her current job in a recycling depot. Nominated by her employer due to her initiative in the workplace and wanting to make it a safer place for herself and her workmates it was a natural fit.

This has led her into being part of a panel on the Safety and Security Committee and being a representative for Victoria. Meeting each quarter, they are there to improve the environment, make people safe and to address any outstanding issues within the workplace.

From a workplace perspective Mia would like to see more be done in this space and knows that in an industry such as recycling safety is key. “I'm all about it, the employers have said I've got initiative and I'm confident with what I do, so if I can get a little more training, then I'll really understand what it's all about.”

It is only natural then that AWU Organiser Aran Mylvaganam saw the potential for Mia to become a Health and Safety Representative for the AWU and for her workmates. Through training and support from the AWU Mia will have access to resources and be in a position where she knows how to work with her employer in keeping the staff safe.

Interested in taking the role of HSR further Mia is keen to learn how power and information will propel her on her career path. She understands that in workplaces like hers there needs to be more done. She says there is no actual training about the high-risk environment and emphasised that there needs to be more translations on site as a lot of the workers have English as their second language. One of her ideas that shows great initiative she thinks using visual aids would benefit the work sites “I definitely think we can have little videos to show people what is right and wrong at work with machinery, safety, and health hazards”.

Underpaid and Wage Theft:

This is prevalent and far too common within the recycling industry and it is something that from a worker’s perspective Mia is quick to add there is a lot of overworked people as a collective and the wage doesn’t match the strenuous and long hours that they put in. She adds “this is where the union fits in and assists us with how we can tackle these issues”. It is early days at her site and activating people is no easy task but as the word gets out that Mia and her co-workers are standing up and wanting a better standard of work place more people are joining.

2020:

The biggest challenge that Mia and the people she works with have dealt with is Covid-19, the virus was spread throughout her workplace early on in the pandemic and over 50% of the site were infected, Mia included. Someone got sick on her site and then they were all told to get tested, testing positive Mia had to self-isolate, the company did the right thing and paid the workers during this time, but she did note that the health and safety implementation happened only after the infection had spread through the workplace. On returning to work she noticed that protocols had been put into place, different teams, social distancing and divided lunchroom eating and a lot of hand sanitiser. In regard to Covid-19 and testing positive, Mia said she spent time reading a lot and listening to music. “You know it was tough, but it was really tough not working”.

What Next:

Working in recycling Mia has had many different experiences from the down-right racist, to being one of five women on site in a male dominated workplace. She has worked in traffic control directing up to five hundred trucks a day and is now back in the picking role which she prefers. But Mia has a bright future ahead, as she takes the HSR role head on and is genuinely wanting to make a difference, having introduced Ben Davis, Victorian Branch Secretary recently at a site visit it is easy to see that she has a presence and a natural ability to organise and unite people.