SDA People
Lorraine Vallaro loves her job as one of the three Information Officers at SDA Victoria’s head office. “We are the first point of call for a lot of members, and sometimes a desperate last call for help as well,” says Lorraine, who has worked at the SDA for nearly 22 years.
“You have to be everything to everybody because, a lot of the time, you are the one person who members just let everything out to.”
Andrew MacKechnie has been with the Union even longer — 27 years – so, with Lorraine, there is nearly half a century of experience at members’ fingertips if they need advice in the workplace.
Together with Gayle Linklater, this dedicated crew of three dealt with more than 20,000 enquiries last year. This is a free service which comes with SDA membership.
“There are some straight forward requests for information about Agreements, but you have to be very sensitive to the member who rings in distress and who sees no answer to their problems,” says Lorraine.
“We have a fantastic support base here in the office, and we also have great external support services too. This includes professional counselling and legal advice.” Enquiries typically include:
- roster Issues;
- pay complaints;
- public holidays (“do I need to work?”);
- annual leave and long service leave issues.
“We quite often use our Delegates to help us respond, and it is very important that our members understand the grievance process if matters are to be resolved,” says Lorraine.
The Information Team has every Enterprise Agreement on computer as well as in print form.
The Research Department and the WorkCover team are also close at hand to assist if necessary.
Lorraine says they are as up-to-date as possible with all workplace issues, but also rely on members ringing in if they are suspicious of management workplace changes.
“The conversations we have with members are strictly confidential. Any notes we take are only used for reference.”
Lorraine says the hardest thing to deal with is when members ring too late to get an easy resolution to a matter.
“A member will say: ‘I’ve been given a roster change — I’ve not signed — but I’ve already started doing it’. That makes it very hard, but not impossible, to turn around.
“If there is one message I would like to get out to our members it is this: Make us your first call if you have a problem.
“We are here to listen and help. Every call is important.