On the fifth-story of a modern Melbourne office building sits a passionate and committed union collective. A new generation of graphic arts union members with the same goals of those before them: to improve conditions and wages, make the workplace a fairer one and give workers a voice. 

The members work in the production arm of Sensis, the advertising and directory agency of Telstra, designing, editing and producing online advertisements for the Yellow and White Pages.

They work on the frontline of an advertising world moving away from traditional printed material towards electronic images published on the internet.

In Australia online advertising revenue grew 21% to $2.26 billion in 2010. Sensis have been at the centre of that growth.

An employee of nearly ten years, site delegate Chris Breen, has been around to witness the steady rise of online advertising.

“When I started, online was a tiny part of the business. There were maybe 20 or 30 of us, while the print production had hundreds of staff. Now we have around 150 staff working in online production.”

The industry’s expansion has also coincided with a growth of union activity at Sensis. But as Chris remembers, it started from the lowest base possible.  

“It wasn’t a natural workplace for union activity. It’s a mostly white-collar workforce, mostly young, multicultural and a workplace where a lot of people have had little experience in being part of a union.”

Chris, a life long political activist, soon inherited the role of delegate, or as he’s known, ‘Father of the Chapel’.

“When I first started, I found people weren’t really interested in joining. Abstractly explaining what unions had achieved didn’t seem to have much of an impact.”

Instead it took identifying specific issues of concern for people to recognise that the union could make a difference.

A massive wage rise achieved through an AMWU agreement drove the number of members up to 35. However, Chris was back to square one when a merger with company City Search in 2005 saw 30 out of the 35 members take redundancies.

Several years later Chris and his fellow delegates have succeeded in rebuilding their collective strength at Sensis – now up to 150 members. 

Site organiser Tony Piccolo says union activity in the production team has grown, especially in the last three years. 

“We made sure that relevant issues like helping casual workers move into permanent jobs were targeted and results were achieved.

“We also identified activists who could help build our union. So we are now at a point where there’s a really vibrant ‘chapel’ in place (with elected positions of Chapel Sectretary, Communications Officer and Deputy FOC), an active membership that comes to lunchtime meetings and off site social gatherings.”

He says the experience of organising online production workers – has proved AMWU membership was essential for all workers, white or blue collar.     

“From the union’s perspective we have always seen Sensis as a site where the AMWU should be. We knew there were some hurdles in organising in a site with little union background but we worked on that.

“By raising money for flood appeals and hosting fundraisers, we’ve been able to show them that a union isn’t just about a workplace. It’s about people and a movement.”

Mr Piccolo says the company has big plans to grow online production over the coming years, as digital media and online advertising get bigger. 

“They are the future of our union. But it’s also important that they identify with the AMWU as their future as well. It think we’re seeing that.”