Maurice Reed copped the ‘double whammy’ when he took over as SDA Victoria State Secretary in 1991. The Labor Government’s push for Sunday trading, followed by the new Kennett Liberal Government’s abolition of the State Awards that covered retail, fast food and warehouse workers meant that Maurice had to hit the ground running! It was also a hard act to follow Jim Maher as State Secretary after Jim’s 18 years at the helm, but Maurice Reed could not have been better prepared for the job. He had been Jim’s right-hand man as Assistant Secretary for most of that time. The defeat of the hapless Kirner Labor Government in 1992 only made matters worse as Kennett legislated for “open slather” 24-hour shopping in the CBD area and tore up all the State Awards by abolishing the State Industrial Relations Commission.
These changes left SDA members with no protection for their wages and conditions. It was an extremely busy five years at the helm but, by the time Maurice decided to retire, the SDA had managed to restore many of the safeguards to protect the overwhelming majority of members in Federal enterprise agreements.
“That was an outstanding achievement,” says Michael Donovan, who took over as SDA Victoria State Secretary when Maurice retired. “It was an incredibly uncertain time for all workers in Victoria, but Maurice kept a cool head and, together with National Secretary Joe de Bruyn and the other SDA Branch Secretaries, worked to make sure every SDA member was protected in the end.”
MAURICE AND THE SDA
Maurice George Reed was born at Heathcote, south of Bendigo, on 14 September 1933. His father died when Maurice was four, leaving his mum Elisabeth to raise four boys.
In 1942 the family moved to Bendigo. Maurice’s first job was as a shop assistant in Myer Bendigo, working during the school holidays when he was 16 years old. That soon changed to a full-time job which was to last 14 years.
Maurice signed up to the Union almost straight away in 1950. When Maurice moved his family to Geelong in 1963, he had gradually become more involved in union matters, becoming a Branch Conference delegate in 1964. In 1972, Maurice was approached to join the SDA team.
He worked initially as a country Organiser, with Geelong as his base. Soon after, he became https://www.acheterviagrafr24.com/viagra-en-france/ Assistant Secretary to Jim Maher. Maurice, in SDA Victoria’s 2008 centenary book Making History, described his term as Secretary as a period of consolidation after Jim’s long reign.
“I was never a long-term prospect, being six years younger than Jim,” he said. “When Kennett scrapped the State Awards system, I knew I had to see off that assault.
“When I retired, membership was strong, and all our enterprise agreements were in place.” Maurice retired on 31 March 1996, and on 1 April he went off with his wife Merle in a caravan to far-flung places in Australia. They made many trips since. Maurice passed away on 15 July 2016. Vale Maurice Read.