Strategy and structure in a successful organising union: The transformational role of branch secretaries in the Australian nursing federation, Victorian branch, 1989-2009

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of a major Australian professional-industrial trade union's Branch Secretaries on the adoption of the "organising model." The investigation was carried out specifi cally with regard to the union's organisational strategies and structures that were developed to facilitate mobilisation of workers over the period 1989-2009. The paper draws on the union organising and transformational leadership literatures to develop a theoretical framework. An intensive case study of the Australian Nursing Federation, Victorian Branch, was conducted from October to December 2009. Interview, observation-based and archival data were analysed. The fi ndings demonstrate that, under t..