Policy platform

Our detailed policy platform can be found below.

For a shorter summary of our policies and the principles behind their development, you can read our pitch or our founding principles.

You can also find this policy platform document in print form below.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement of country

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of this land.

We recognise their enduring connection to Country, culture, and community. We pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging. We especially recognise Indigenous peoples’ long and proud history of collective action and activism.

We commit to fighting for justice, truth, and sovereignty. As public servants, we have a special responsibility to confront and correct the legacy of racism and colonialism in our workplaces, institutions, and society.

A Voice for Members

A Voice for Members (AVFM) is a group of public servants employed across various departments, agencies, and services in the Victorian public sector. AVFM has a plan to build a revitalised, bold, democratic, and united union that is ready to act and win rights and improvements for workers.

We stand behind the spirit and principles in this document, which represent the collective views of our team.

This platform was built on submissions solicited from AVFM members. These submissions were circulated, debated and ultimately voted on to make sure they had the support and backing of our group. This democratic process was a key first step in our journey to return democracy to our union.

1. Our vision

Member-led unionism

Union power comes from the rank and file, and union democracy should be vital to running a union. Members should be at the centre of all union decisions, with opportunities to shape priorities and strategies.

Transparency and accountability

The union and the work it does should be open and accessible to all members. Elections should be advertised well in advance, and members should be encouraged to participate.

Structures for active participation

To strengthen the presence and effectiveness of our union, it needs:

• proper delegate and health and safety representative (HSR) structures
• a revitalised branch council
• vibrant workplace organising committees
• sub-branches.

Fighting spirit

We stand ready to take strong industrial action, including strikes, to secure meaningful wins for members.

Solidarity

We will unite all public sector workers – permanent, fixed-term, casual, and labour-hire – to fight together for fair pay and better conditions.

We understand solidarity is essential to build worker power and a strong labour movement, and we will embed this thinking in our union.

Touch one, touch all.

Equity and social justice

It is union business to fight against:

• sexism
• homophobia
• transphobia
• ableism
• racism
• colonialism
• imperialism
• apartheid
• illegal occupation
• genocide.

We support human rights, diverse workplaces, and oppose all forms of discrimination.

The right to organise

Workers must have the freedom to speak out, associate, and take collective action without fear of reprisal.

We oppose any laws that restrict delegates’ and HSRs’ right to have a say in their workplace and any workers’ ability to organise, strike, and take collective action.

Better conditions for all

We believe in:

• real wages growth
• safe, harassment-free workplaces where diversity is genuinely valued
• flexible working arrangements for all.

We strenuously oppose:

• chronic understaffing
• arbitrary staffing caps
• outsourcing of core functions
• funding cuts
• efficiency dividends that erode public services, fail to meet community expectations, and lead to poor outcomes for workers.

Union pride

Workers should be proud to belong to the union and to be seen to belong to the union.

Public services belong in public hands

The community depends on a well-resourced, independent, and transparent public sector.

Respect for our work

We are proud of the work we do every day for our communities.

We believe public servants should be given a greater say in how services are delivered, with respect for our subject matter expertise.

The professionalism and capability of the Victorian Public Sector should be recognised, supported and celebrated.

2. Involving members in enterprise bargaining

Previously, the current leadership has made our agreements behind closed doors. Members have had little input and even less engagement. It’s time our members had a real say in what and how their union bargains for them.

The bargaining process

We will make sure members can be involved at every stage of the enterprise bargaining process. This will be both directly and through their delegates, organisers and bargaining committees.

We’ll make sure members are engaged, consulted, and have a real say in what goes into their log of claims. We’ll put this log of claims to a vote before it goes to the negotiating table.

We’ll also make sure delegates and members are actually at the bargaining table. We’ll work with branch councillors, delegates and members to develop a transparent process for selecting a bargaining team that represents the interests of all members.

We’ll also ensure members receive regular bargaining updates, both through their delegates and directly from the union.

Emerging industrial claims

We will take up the fight for the issues we know matter most to members. We will fight for real wage rises above inflation both within EA negotiations and outside of them.

We will seek to lead the way on emerging claims like a cultural load allowance to recognise and compensate First Nations people for their often-invisible additional labour. This labour includes providing advice or insight into their lived experiences and their communities.

We know that the current VPS cultural and ceremonial leave entitlements enterprise agreement are both difficult to access and do not compensate for cultural load. We will take up the fight up for these critical issues.

3. Growing our union and fixing the fee structure

Growing member numbers

In 1993, when the current secretary took office, our union reported membership of around 15,000. Under the current leadership, there’s been no meaningful increase in union membership in the past 20 years. We are still sitting around 15,000 members, 32 years later.

There are approximately 100,000 workers in Victoria that could come under the CPSU’s coverage. That’s only 15% union density. With these low member numbers we do not have the ability to take meaningful industrial action to achieve what we want.

We need to address this. It’s time to put a strategy in place to rebuild our membership, and to keep our members engaged. If elected, A Voice for Members will develop a new recruitment and retention strategy for our union, with input from members.

We’ll aim to increase membership by 25% (from ~15,000 to ~20,000) by the end of 2028. We’ll also explore new ways to encourage our members to stay members for the long term.

Member turnover

Member turnover rates can also be as high as 20% per year. We need to understand why members are leaving in such great numbers, and what we can do to keep them in the fold.

We will ask why members leave when they do leave and collate this data to inform our member retention strategy.

Fees and the fee structure

We know higher membership fees for lower paid public servants is a big factor in why public servants choose to not join. We agree the current membership fee structure is unfair.

Currently, the percentage different VPS grades pay in fees from their salary are around:

• VPS 3 – about 1.00%
• VPS 5 – about 0.8%
• VPS 6 – about 0.7%
• VPS 7 – about 0.5%

That’s not a fair set of rates. Those who can least afford it are paying the biggest part of their income in union fees. It should be the other way around!

On top of this, the campaign levy makes new members pay an extra $1 per week in their first year, and $0.50 per week in their second year. This is another unnecessary barrier to entrance for new members.

Changing this unfair fee structure will be one of our key priorities as soon as we take office. We’ll get rid of the levy and reduce fees.

Pay should never prevent someone becoming a union member. Everyone has a place in our union, no matter what they earn.

4. Rebuilding union structures for member participation

Right now, CPSU members are siloed and have almost no opportunities to participate in the affairs of their union. Most of our workplaces have no delegates, and often no-one knows who their HSRs are.

We’ll change this. We will rebuild the union’s organisational structures so that all members can participate and are engaged with the union. We want members to know what to do and who to talk to if they’ve got an issue in their workplace.

We will rebuild these structures by:

• Supporting every workplace to elect delegates and HSRs, so that every member has access to support in their own workplace when they need help or don’t feel safe at work.
• Making sure every member knows who their delegates and HSRs are, understands what their roles are, and knows how to get in touch with them.
• We’ll also make sure every delegate knows who the members in their area are.
• We’ll resource and support structures that create space for members to participate in their union – both directly and through their elected delegates and HSRs. This will include:
  • Workplace organising committees
  • Members’ meetings across workplaces, electorates, campaigns
  • Creating sub-branches where members are interested
  • Newsletters and other communications, including social media and other digital platforms
  • Member satisfaction surveys
  • A union-wide delegates and HSRs network
  • An annual delegates and HSRs conference, starting in 2026.

We recognise that what works best might be different from workplace to workplace. But we are committed to rebuilding these important structures, no matter what they look like.

5. Restoring an active and powerful branch council

Branch council is a key, democratic decision-making body of our union. However, most CPSU members aren’t aware of its existence. They don’t know what electorate they are part of so have no idea who represents them.

There is no communication between branch councillors and the workplaces they represent, and members have been prevented from attempting to contact branch council or even knowing who sits on it.

Vacancies on branch council are not advertised for by-election, robbing members of an important chance to get involved with the union.

This is not representative, not democratic, and not on.

We will elevate and celebrate branch council as the key participatory body of our union.

We will do this by:

• holding one open branch council meeting each year for members to observe and ask questions.
• making sure all members know who their branch councillors are, and how to contact them.
• requiring branch councillors to liaise with their electorate members, either directly or through their delegates, to make sure their priorities align
• publishing minutes or summaries of branch council activity with minimal redactions
• openly advertising branch council elections, and actively supporting and encouraging members to nominate for vacancies
• publishing the process for members to raise items for consideration by branch council at branch council meetings
• enshrining the ability of branch council to include items on meeting agendas, speak freely at meetings, call for a vote on union policies, processes, or the positions of any executive (with a vote for all members if needed),
• holding one open branch council meeting each year for members to observe and ask questions.

6. Creating an organising strategy

Under the current leadership, real organising is the exception not the rule.

If elected, we will organise to build the strength of our union, day in and day out.

We will create a new organising strategy for our union, with input from members. This strategy will aim to increase the union’s overall power in the workplace so that together we can advance members’ interests.

We will organise by:

• expanding the use of social media and other digital tools for the work of organising.
• rebuilding the delegate structures, so every workplace has a union representative
• filling vacant HSR positions, so we can all be safe at work
• setting a schedule for workplace visits by organisers, so the union is proactively engaging our members across all our workplaces
• running training for the whole union, including:
  • basic and advanced delegates and HSRs training
  • how to read and understand an enterprise agreement
  • how to have conversations about the union in the workplace.
• setting up a weekly ‘office hours’ for organisers – an online meeting that any delegate can join to speak directly to an organiser and connect with other delegates
• running annual delegates and HSRs conference, starting in 2026

7. Putting union organisers in Victoria’s regions

One in every four CPSU members work in Victoria’s regions:

• Barwon
• Gippsland
• Goulburn
• Grampians
• Hume
• Loddon
• Mallee
• Wimmera.

Under the current leadership, members in the regions are often an afterthought. All union staff work out of the Melbourne CBD office. Workplace visits to regional sites are even rarer than visits to metro sites.

We will base one full-time union organiser position in each of 5 of Victoria’s regional centres:

• Geelong
• Ballarat
• Bendigo
• Shepparton
• Morwell/Traralgon.

By basing organisers in the regions, we’ll make sure regional members have all the same opportunities for support and engagement as metro members.

8. Making union leaders more accessible

We will make the secretary and assistant secretary directly available to members through 3 open online meetings each year. All members will be invited to these meetings and will be able to speak with their leaders directly.

We will publish this meeting schedule in January of every year, starting in 2026.

Union leaders should be available to the members. This is just one new and exciting way we will make this happen.

9. Bringing the union into the 21st Century

A digital first approach

A range of outdated ways of working persist under the current leadership. Snail mail is prioritised over email. Merchandise is poor quality and very difficult for members to consistently access.

Other unions, including CPSU Federal branch, have an online merch store to raise important funds and allow members to access branded merchandise 24/7.

Communications uplift

The CPSU’s communications are irregular, unclear, and sometimes quite poorly written. Our comms should reflect the excellent communications professionals in the Victorian Government, some who are leading the sector in best practice. Social media is particularly underutilised, and posts are ‘cringe’ when they are made. There are no new digital tools for workplace organising.

To stay relevant in a digital world, this must change. The union’s communications should instill a sense of pride and dignity in Victoria’s public service. We need a union that recognises and reflects the vibrant and modern nature of a 21st Century public service.

We’ll explore new ways to organise our workplaces by using digital and online tools, including better uses of social media and higher quality communications.

Cost saving measures

We’ll save money by switching to a digital-first approach for the twice-yearly newsletter. Members will still be able to request a posted copy, but this will be opt-in.

Digital accessibility

We will prioritise digital accessibility in our communications. We will continue to make communications available in other formats, including hardcopy, so all our products are fully accessible.

We’ll speak to members with accessibility requirements to understand what the union can do better to improve their digital experience.

10. Embedding the right to participate in public life

Current CPSU leadership doesn’t seem to care about the overreach of government into public servants’ private lives. They are indifferent to the ability of their members to participate in public life.

We will fight for public servants’ rights to be political in their private lives.

We will work with the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) to ensure there is a clear and reasonable distinction between what public servants do in the course of their official duties and what they are free to do in their own time.

We will seek precise clarification from the VPSC on how the VPS Code of Conduct currently applies to political activity—what it restricts, when it applies, and where the line is drawn. We commit to providing members with the clarity they need to confidently participate in public life without fear of breaching the Code.

If members find these limits unclear, unreasonable, or too restrictive, we will organise and advocate to change them.

11. Taking political positions on behalf of members

Under the current leadership, members have no input whatsoever on the political positions of their union. The leadership has never sought to determine the views of members with respect to any key political issue.

We’ll change that, by making sure that members have a say in the political positions of their union.

We will create a union platform that sets out the political positions of the union on the big issues that matter to all members.

Union members will determine what the big issues are and what our position on them will be. This will be achieved through a transparent and participatory process that allows all voices to be heard and considered.

This process will be determined and formalised by a new branch council, which will be set up properly to represent the interests of members.

All positions must be lawful and consistent with the union’s values and principles.

These positions could be on big issues like:

• international politics (like the status of the genocide in Palestine/Gaza and the war in Ukraine and Russia).
• social justice issues (like an Aboriginal Voice to Parliament, plebiscite on same-sex marriage)
• domestic government policy (excluding taking a position on federal, state and municipal elections)
• foreign government policy (such as the tariffs applied by the United States)

12. Putting union leaders on VPS EBA salaries

Union leaders shouldn’t be paid any more than what has been won for their members. Union resources should as much as possible be spent on member-led priorities.

We will set the salaries of the CPSU secretary and assistant secretary at the VPS 6.2 level.

This represents a yearly saving of $99,441.64, made up of:

• $64,500 in secretary wage savings ($226,577.64 reduced to $162,077)
• $34,763 in assistant secretary wage savings ($196,840 reduced to $162,077)

$99,441 each year is enough to employ another organiser or fund an entire campaign.

We will set future pay rises for the secretary and assistant secretary to be the same as those won in future VPS Enterprise Bargaining Agreements. This will keep our union leaders in wages solidarity with their members.

13. Setting branch executive term limits

The current secretary has held office for 32 years. If they win this election, this will be 35 years total. It is fair to question how someone can know what it really means to be a public servant if they haven’t been one for more than 3 decades. It’s also fair to question if they still have energy and fresh ideas to put into action for our union.

We will limit the number of terms anyone can serve as secretary, assistant secretary, president or vice president to 3 terms (about 12 years).

12 years is long enough for a leader to carry out long-term plans, but not so long that they run out of energy and ideas. It is short enough that a leader will have recent experience of working in the public service, but not so short that they can’t apply that experience. This limit will also encourage a focus on developing the union’s future leaders.

By introducing sensible term limits, we will balance the need for consistent leadership with the need for renewal.

14. Being a model employer

We will be a model employer by making sure that paid union staff are properly supported and valued. We want to enable them to apply their skills, knowledge, and talents to serve the best interests of the members.

Conduct, probity and transparency standards are important too. We will review current policies and practices for staff (including leadership) and make sure that as an employer we model best practice values, behaviours and probity standards.