Leaders
Barbara Carson
Barbara Carson became Branch Secretary of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) (RANF(Vic)) in 1980. This appointment heralded an ideological shift within the union which had traditionally been a conservative organisation. As noted by former Branch Secretary, Belinda Morieson: ‘[Carson] was the first leader to industrialise and make a union of the ANF’ (Interview).
Barbara Carson c.1985, courtesy of Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library.
Carson graduated in 1952 from Maryborough Base Hospital in Queensland and, in 1971, became Chief Nursing Officer. She moved to the Austin Hospital in Melbourne where she was Director of Nursing before being elected as RANF (Vic) Branch Secretary.On taking up the leadership of the union, Carson recognised that the organisation needed to improve its professionalism, ‘industrial know-how’ and political acumen. To achieve these ends, she laid the foundations for the establishment of an effective professional-industrial trade union. Nursing education moved from an apprentice-style system. A program of college-based training with professional examinations was introduced and Carson persuaded Council to allow students to apply for union membership. She oversaw the implementation of a professional indemnity insurance scheme for members, now an important service for all nurses and midwives.
Most famously, in 1984 Carson lobbied successfully for the removal of the ‘no strike clause’ from the Branch rules.This action paved the way for nurses to have more collective power and industrial strength, allowing their demands to be taken seriously. In 1985, Carson led the first nurses’ strike carried out in Victoria. On 11 October, Branch members resolved to strike indefinitely from 17 October in protest against the ongoing obligation of nurses to perform non-nursing duties. The aim of the strike was to provide more time for nurses to deliver health care to their patients by 'getting them out of the pan room'.This was the first time in its history that RANF(Vic) members had voted to strike.A policy of concerted industrial action was adopted with bans on non-nursing duties. The strike lasted 5 days. Its success taught nurses that a positive outcome for their profession could be achieved by collective industrial action.
When Carson took office there were 13,000 members in the RANF(Vic). When she resigned in January 1986, membership had risen to 21,148. A large proportion of the increase in membership occurred during the 1985 strike. Barbara Carson led an organisation that used its collective voice to speak on behalf of nurses providing healthcare to Victorians. She developed the foundations for the building of the RANF(Vic) into a robust industrial, professional and political trade union whose growing membership had confidence in its strength and influence.
The University of Melbourne
Archival Sources
- Interview with Belinda Morieson by James L. Tierney, 23 December 2009