Page 34 - ETU Journal Autumn 2017

PROFILE > MICK DEGRAAFF
MICK DEGRAAFF
You can’t wander among the poles and wires of the power industry without hearing linies mention, with affection, the name Mick DeGraaff. And they say there’s no better example of a true unionist. Mick came into the office recently to present his collection of badges to his union. They represent
a lifetime of him and his beliefs.
I’m pretty proud to say I’ve remained a member even though I was unemployed for quite some time; and all I do these days is work two or three days every now and then.
I put my first ETU badge on in 1980–81 and over the years collected badges of other unions and leftist causes. I’ve supported a lot of causes.
So Mick, where did it all begin?
I joined the SEC in 1978. A week or two later I was a member, and within 12 months I was a shop steward. I was working in the Greensborough depot as a trades assistant with the
tree clearing gangs. I was lucky enough to be given the
opportunity to become a cable jointer. Back in
those days it was only a traineeship. It wasn’t long before Watto (Graeme Watson) had me on several committees.
One of those committees that I was on was called the Restructuring Committee. Anyhow, it looked all fantastic and it was a means for us to get a decent pay increase. But when it went through, the SEC pulled all the leading hand and resident linesmen allowances and we started putting some bans on.
The SEC tried to divide the depots. The Oakleigh depot had the exact same bans on as Greensborough but they stood us down, whereas the Oakleigh boys were allowed to keep going. Within about 24 hours we had picket lines on the depots and that started to spread right across Victoria.
One of my earliest recollections was of a young Dean Mighell coming out to support us on the picket line. I used to travel around the state a bit with Dean back in those days. He was extremely keen. His knowledge and history of the union and the union movement amazed.
And how did you become a
trade trainer?
I went from Greensborough to Dandenong and by default I was representing the boys there as their union official. And I was on some committee, I can’t remember which, but we used to meet at the lines school and I was talking to the
manager of the school and expressed interest in teaching. Later on he said, “Do you want the f-ing job?” That was my interview, but I only went there on a six-month secondment.
When my six months were up I was told I needed to go back to the depot. I rang Dandenong and said can I come back there and start in a fortnight's time? Their reply was “Piss off, you’ve caused too much trouble!” So I phoned back my old depot in Greensborough and they told me the same; but the school, to give them credit, they did take me on as a full-time trainer.
When the SEC was privatised the training school was sold off to Gipps TAFE. How did that go? Privatisation certainly had a huge effect on the school. The SEC used
to be putting on between 90 and
110 apprentices a year. When privatisation first happened there were no apprentices put on for a couple of years and it spelt disaster for the workforce. We had that big gap. There certainly has been a decline
in apprentice numbers, although I’ve got to give credit to some of the power companies. Powercor was the first company to put on big numbers.
I took over management of apprentice training in about 2000. When I took over I invited people to come out
from ESV and WorkSafe, and every year when the apprentices started I brought the union out and they were introduced to the ETU. And that still goes on to this day.
THE ETU > SUMMER 2016
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