Athan McCaw Award recipient Stephanie Cooper with ANMF (Vic Branch) Councillor Stephen McKenzie. Photo: supplied
Ballarat Trades and Labour Council held its 140th consecutive Labour Day Dinner on Friday 1 March 2024. At the dinner, ANMF organiser and Ballarat Trades and Labour Council president Cassia Drever-Smith presented the Athan McCaw Young Activist Award to registered nurse and ANMF member Stephanie Cooper.
Stephanie was nominated for, and ultimately won, this honour due to her efforts at improving the working conditions at Grampians Health, as well as for her advocacy for women and families in the Grampians region, and her commitment to the broader union movement.
Stephanie has been an ANMF member since her student days, and a committed, passionate and hardworking Job Rep since 2017. In that time, she has been a strong advocate and resource for her colleagues, and a rational and level-headed conduit between members, her employer and the ANMF. She has unquestionably become the ‘go-to’ person for her fellow members regarding workplace issues and is regarded by her colleagues as a leader in the workplace.
Stephanie has also been a serving member on the Ballarat Trades and Labour Council (BRTLC) Executive since 2020, and her passion and enthusiasm, and fresh innovative ideas in championing new Council projects, has brought strength and future vision to BRTLC.
The Athan McCaw Young Activist Award is named for Athan McCaw, a National Tertiary Education Union Organiser and former Ballarat Trades Hall President who died in a motorcycle accident in 2014. He was 36 years old. The award is given annually to a delegate aged 36 years or younger who lives in the Ballarat Trades Hall region and has demonstrated the same outstanding service and dedication to their workplace as McCaw did in his short lifetime.
Stephanie shared the award this year with two other winners.
