Meet our team

The Association is governed by a Committee which guides its direction. It is made up of 11 rank-and-file members who are elected by their fellow members. Committee members are elected on a yearly basis by members in their respective mining districts.

These include:

• Upper Hunter (NSW)
• Lower Hunter (NSW)
• Central (NSW)
• Western (NSW)
• Southern (NSW
• Northern (QLD)
• Southern (QLD)
• Eastern (QLD)
• Western (QLD
• Central (QLD)
• Western Australia

The Committee meets four times each year, alternating between Brisbane and Sydney and oversights the industrial, legal and other activities of the Collieries’ Staff Division.

Paul is the rank-and-file President elected by members of the CSOA. He worked full-time in the black coal mining industry from 1981 until 2015 and now works casually in the industry. He worked in a variety of roles from Operator, to Deputy to Undermanager. He was elected President of the CSOA in 2014, and prior to that was elected as a representative member of the committee in 2011.

Catherine has worked for unions for 27 years, most recently with the CSOA since the amalgamation in 2001. Catherine is responsible for the strategic oversight and management of our union, including our finances, legal, safety, industrial and staff.

Sue grew up in New Zealand and moved to Australia in the mid 70’s.  She gained a double degree in Industrial Relations and Political Economy in the early ‘90s while working full time at a large manufacturing Union, studying at the University of NSW at night and bringing up her children. She has continued to work for the Union movement for 25 years, using her communication, informational, interpersonal and organisational skills, working in research and administration.

Belinda has been working as an Organiser in the trade union movement for 14 years. She entered the movement as a rank-and-file union member and delegate before being retrenched when her place of business closed. With her union she fought and won one of the first cases to see redundancy payments made to long-term casual employees. She then began work as an Organiser in the union movement and has been working for CSOA for 4 years.

Andrew has been with us since 2016 and worked in the broader union movement for ten years beforehand.

Samantha has recently joined us after working in private practice for the last three years. Samantha has qualifications in Law and Aviation having completed studies at the University of New South Wales and University of Technology, Sydney. For the past two years, Samantha has been appointed on the Employment Law Committee with the Law Society of New South Wales.

Samantha has also worked for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in South Australia and for the Australian Institute of Family Studies in which she collected primary court data used to evaluate the 2012 family violence amendments for the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

Samantha has co-authored a chapter on a transport law publication Air Transport Management: An International Perspective. She has also been a contributing writer for several aviation law publications, workshops and courses including a Space Law Guide Card for Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, Ashgate Publishing, the Australian National University, University of New South Wales and Swinburne University. She also tutors two university courses by distance at Swinburne University in transport law and environmental law.

Tom Edwards has worked as an Organiser in the Australian Union Movement for 4 years prior to starting at CSOA. Tom has a master’s degree in Political Economy from the University of Sydney and his research on Australian industrial relations has been published academically.

Brad has been working as an Organiser in the trade union movement since 2014. He entered the movement as a rank-and-file union member and delegate in the Shipbuilding and Mining industries in the Hunter Valley and the Pilbara.

Brad has organised workers across the Defence, Oil and Gas Construction, Shipbuilding and Mining Industries. Brad has also had experience in developing policy for FIFO / Mental Health and regional framework agreements for industry.

Marisa graduated in Law from Charles Darwin University in 2009. Returning to her home-town, Sydney, she gained her practising certificate in NSW and worked briefly in private practice before joining the union movement as a legal officer at the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. In 2011, she started working for the Australian Services Union as an Industrial Officer, rising to role of Senior Industrial Officer in 2016. At the ASU she represented members in the social and community services, airlines, water and transport sectors.

Marisa joined us in April 2019 as Senior Industrial Officer/Campaigner, on the back of a strong track record as a negotiator with employers and an advocate in industrial tribunals and courts.

She’s enjoying visiting mine sites around the country, representing our members and looks forward to meeting more soon.

Marisa has three children – 11, 8 and 2 – and works four days a week. In her spare time she plays netball, all year round, and follows the Sydney Roosters in the NRL.