Professionals Australia


Professionals Australia, formerly the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia , is an Australian employee association registered under state and federal industrial relations acts. Professionals Australia has approximately 25,000 members from the following professions: engineers, scientists, managers, architects, IT professionals, pharmacists, veterinarians, surveyors, translators and collieries staff in addition to student members. Professionals Australia is an example of a union that is organised along occupational lines. For this reason its coverage areas overlap substantially with industry unions which now represent the majority of union members in Australia. As it also covers managers, it is also in the unusual position that, in negotiations on behalf of employee members, the employer representatives with whom it is negotiating may also be union members.
This makes it a trade union for the purposes of worker-employer bargaining; Professionals Australia is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Professionals Australia acts to service member needs, primarily in terms of salary and industrial advice. This places Professionals Australia within the services model of trade unionism. It also performs many of the functions of a professional association. Professionals Australia is not affiliated to either major political party.
APESMA's journal for members is the Professional Network, published bi-monthly.

History

Professionals Australia began as The Association of Professional Engineers, Australia which formed in 1946 and registered as an industrial association in 1948. APEA was the first organisation to ensure that professionals be recognised and rewarded for the high-value work they do. The Professional Engineers Case finalised in 1961 saw engineers across Australia receive salary increases averaging more than 40 per cent. Even more importantly it set the precedent for work value and benchmark salaries for professionals. Professionals Australia has Government approval as an assessment entity for the only mandatory engineering registration scheme in Australia – the Registered Professional Engineers of Queensland. Professionals Australia offer assessment in the areas of Civil, Electrical, Information, Technology and Telecommunications, Management, Mechanical and Structural Engineering.
APEA grew by a process of mergers of white collar, professional and managerial employee associations over a long period of years:
APEA became APESA in 1991, and APESMA in 1994. In 2013, in recognition of the many new professions represented by the union, APESMA changed its name to Professionals Australia.

Divisions

Professionals Australia has various divisions representing each of its professions.
These are:
Professionals Australia owns several subsidiary companies that help support the union's operations and which in 2006 were placed under a CEO distinct from that of the union. The National Assembly appoints the directors to the boards of the companies.