General Secretary
Queensland Teachers Union
2002
I retired at the start of 2021 after 33 years working for my union and 37 years as a member. At the time of my Harvard class (2002), I was Deputy General Secretary of the Queensland Teachers Union with responsibility for bargaining, research, member services and a few other things. I was elected General Secretary in 2011 and held that position until I retired. Along the way, I was also a Vice-President of the Queensland Council of Unions – the state union collective – and was active in our national union, the Australian Education Union.
What impact has the HTUP had on your life/career? HTUP gave me a broader perspective of the labour movement through my interactions with my classmates as well as the course content. I was one of four Australians who participated that year together with a Japanese and a Canadian. That alone was broadening. It has been great to see posts from classmates Marty Kahn and Michel Hryce.
I was particularly interested in David Weil’s work on strategic planning for unions. I saw him in Queensland in maybe 1996 and used what I learnt to set up a process to formulate the union’s first formal strategic plan in 1998. I’ve used the knowledge from 2002 about planning in every single organisation I’ve been in.
If David’s work led me to Harvard, the faculty was extraordinary. Not everyone will get credit (because I’ve forgotten names) but it included John Dunlop, Paul Weiler, James Green, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Robert Reich in a program led by the amazing Elaine Bernard.
I like to think and believe that the QTU members then and since have had great benefit from sending me to HTUP. I also like to think that is as it should be.
Do you have an interesting/funny story of when you attended the program? Marty Kahn mentioned the Australia Day barbecue (cook-out?) in the snow in the carpark of one of the accommodation units. It was very different to summer celebrations in Australia. We had enormous problems sourcing decent Australian beer and wine. Apologies to our classmates, but you really should come to Australia to taste some of the good stuff, not the stuff we send overseas.
Our first or second night in Cambridge, we ended up in a Justice for Janitors march for Harvard employees. Proud to add our insignificant weight to that great campaign.
CONTACT INFORMATION
386 Robinson Rd West, Geebung, QLD, Australia, 4034
moloneygraham974@gmail.com