United Voice

[7] Famous campaigns during the 1950s and 1960s included organising workers paid to be Santa Clauses at Christmas and a group of dance instructors who were locked out for four months before winning their jobs back.

The move of flight catering and aircraft cleaning staff to join the Transport Workers Union in the mid-1990s resulted in the LHMU losing several thousand members.

In 1996 John Howard became Prime Minister, and his government worked to weaken the union movement as a whole, with the result that the LHMU lost further members between 1996 and 2007.

Former cabinet ministers Penny Wong and Mark Butler were both LHMU branch officials in South Australia before they entered the federal parliament.

[11] In June 2019, the Fair Work Commission approved a vote on the proposed merger between the two unions, to be held in August.

[12] On 30 August 2019 the Australian Electoral Commission declared the result of the vote, with just over 95% of members supporting the amalgamation.

Members of National executive were elected to their positions, and there were rules for proper representation of membership sections and gender.

[19] In September 2011, United Voice joined with many other unions to campaign for marriage equality for same-sex couples.

The Unions for Marriage Equality campaign was timed to start a few months before the Labor National Conference in December 2011.

[21] In August 2016, ABC's 7:30 Report "Former United Voice workers accuse the union of hypocrisy" was produced.

The Report detailed allegations of mismanagement and bullying[22] Journalist Pat McGrath reported that he had spoken to 15 past and current staff members who alleged that bullying was "rife" in the union, that organisers were put under pressure to reach unattainable targets,[23] and 'counselled out' when they didn't, and that working at the union had taken a mental and physical toll on staff.

One staff member claimed he had been stood down after his attempts to negotiate pay and conditions for workers within the union.

One staff member was quoted in the program as suffering from physical and mental distress leading to issues such as depression and psoriasis due to the "style of management."

Big Steps Campaign - Early Childhood Educators Stop Work Action, September 2022