Tim Soewardjo-Powell, Committee Member Tim has been a retail worker for eleven years, all of them at Coles and joined RAFFWU in 2018 after learning about the SDAs rotten deals with major employers. Tim believes that collective, militant action is the only way to guarantee a better deal for all. Outside of the workplace, Tim has engaged in climate activism, student activism, electoral campaigns, and volunteered for UnionsACT. He is committed to building a more inclusive union movement to build a better world. Carolina Cooksey, Committee Member Carolina has worked in the retail and fast-food industry for over five years and is currently a union delegate at Better Read Than Dead. She was active in the landmark Better Read Than Dead campaign which secured the best retail agreement in Australia through direct action. Carolina has witnessed the collective power of workers firsthand and is passionate about encouraging younger workers like herself to participate in grassroots organising. Nelio Da Silva, Committee Member Nelio has been actively organising his workplace for six years and is a RAFFWU delegate. Like many people new to retail, he first joined the SDA before realising the error of his ways and switched to the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union, the real union that fights for its members. Since then he has helped organise many health and safety campaigns in the workplace including obtaining two electric pallet jacks, angled convex mirrors for seeing around corners and most importantly assisting young women in the workplace take direct action to get rid of a sexual harasser. Penny Vickers, Committee Member Penny has been employed as a night filler at Coles for 11 years. Before that, she worked as a legal secretary and paralegal for over 10 years. She is passionate about workplace rights and living standards for workers. Penny is a RAFFWU delegate, part of RAFFWU’s Enterprise Bargaining Team at Coles and has been involved in RAFFWU’s Women’s Caucus. As one of RAFFWU’s #Superstrike members, she sees industrial action as a powerful method to achieve improved conditions in our current cost of living crisis. Liska Fell, Committee Member Liska has worked at Apple for two years. As a delegate at Apple Charlestown she helped promote RAFFWU’s campaign for a better enterprise agreement with better pay and conditions for workers. She holds a Bachelor of Languages (Honours) in Chinese Translation. Liska has been inspired by the ability of union action to create historic change both in her workplace and others and believes that union membership is the key to ensuring workers are afforded their rights and to improving conditions for everyone. Al-Aabid Chowdhury, Committee Member Al-Aabid has been a retail worker for over five years, and is currently working at Beacon Lighting in Sydney. He has seen how big business increasingly undermines working conditions by choosing to employ workers on more insecure contracts, running stores on lean rosters and maintaining unsuitable working conditions. He is interested in how we engage migrant workers, international students, and young people of colour with the union and is committed to building a more inclusive union movement. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) from the University of Sydney. E MEMBERS 33
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