• Salary range up to $86K depending on experience

Are you a passionate organiser of insecure workers?

This is an opportunity to join MEAA’s organising team with key responsibility for crew and behind-the-scenes creatives working in live theatres and venues. The role is based in our Melbourne office.

The crew section has a full-time job for a passionate union organiser who is committed to work to build and develop our members and activists to have a strong and active voice at work. The job will primarily be working in the live theatre section. MEAA is constantly developing new approaches to organising beyond the traditional workplace. Many workers in our union are freelance or work very short contracts and we need an innovative and creative organiser who can meet these challenges.

Essential Criteria:

• Demonstrated commitment to MEAA and the broader trade union movement and its values and goals.
• Highly developed writing skills for publications and social media and being a role model in communications both written and interpersonal.
• A passion for the Arts and those who contribute to creating industries that are providing for decent working lives for those who work in them.
• A commitment to build power for insecure workers who do not always have a static workplace or employer.
• Highly developed organisational skills such as planning and goal setting and acceptance of accountability
• A committed team player who will contribute to group development and collaboration.
• A proven capacity to work with others and mobilise them to develop confidence in taking action.

Key duties include: 

• Recruiting and retaining members while focussed on building a strong, resilient, and relevant union presence amongst workers.
• Working to organise those who work in Live Theatre. This includes employees, many who are casual and insecure workers as well as short term contract employees.
• All aspects of contemporary organising will be used from planning to communications, mapping and industry research, developing skills as well as using the range of IT tools.
• Giving industrial support to members and activists including:
  • Providing initial advice to members on enterprise agreements and resolving workplace issues
  • Negotiating with employers and other industry stakeholders
  • Briefing and working with industrial officers

Preferred attributes and skills:

• Strong communication skills
• Capacity to build and develop groups to a plan
• Previous experience as a workplace leader or delegate
• Working knowledge and/or experience within the arts and entertainment industry
• Problem identification and resolution skills
• Advocacy, negotiation or dispute resolution skills 
• Industrial relations experience, including working knowledge of agreements and awards
• Experience in representing insecure workers beyond the Fair Work Act.
• Demonstrated capacity to organise around Workplace Health and Safety issues.

The ideal candidate will have experience in arts/entertainment and/or organising experience with a proven ability to manage project based work allocations.

The role involves intermittent evening and weekend work due to the availability of workers in this industry.

Remuneration is dependent on proven capacity, skills and experience. Mentoring and training will be provided to enable the successful applicant to achieve high quality worker organising.

The position is based in Melbourne with a package dependent on skills and experience, plus 10.5% employer contribution to superannuation. You will also be entitled to one RDO per month, 5 weeks’ annual leave each year plus an additional 3 days leave between Christmas and New Year.

About the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance

Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance is the union and leading advocate for workers in the media, entertainment and arts industries. It represents performers, journalists, creatives, crew and all other workers in media, entertainment and arts industries and has over 15,000 members.

Building on our proud history we aim to empower the people who inform and entertain Australia:

• Protect & advance our rights at work: Improving our members’ income and conditions, providing timely and expert advice to members, enforcing members’ rights at work and promoting safe and respectful workplaces.

• Build Power: Recruit and grow leaders, activists and supporters, ensure best practice governance and accountability, continue staff development and build strategic alliances.

• Build Community: Utilise communications to engage and activate, remain relevant throughout members’ lives, reach out to new areas and be the creative hub.
• Shape our Industries: Be the respected and authoritative voice across all of our industries, influence policy, mobilise our membership and broaden our sphere of influence.

Our Members

Our members include people working in theatre and film, entertainment venues, recreation grounds, television and radio as front and back of house theatre and venue crew, technicians, venue attendants, designers, screen production crew, journalists, actors, dancers, sportspeople, cartoonists and photographers, musicians, orchestral and opera performers, as well as people working in public relations, advertising, book publishing and website production.

Our Locations and Staffing

The MEAA national office is in Redfern in Sydney. There are branch offices located in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.