Paul Mitchell, the PIAA’s new industrial relations manager in Victoria, plans face-to-face meetings with every member in Victoria before the end of the year – “if they’ll have me.”
Mitchell, appointed 10 April, studied law at Monash, majoring in industrial relations, then worked for two years with Stuart Wood QC - one of Australia's leading workplace relations barristers - before a stint with top global law firm Seyfarth Shaw.
Mitchell says he’s very optimistic about the future of the printing industry and will be seeking to raise awareness of the contribution that print and associated industries make to the Australian manufacturing sector.
“The industry has undergone a lot of structural changes and still faces a lot of challenges but a concerted effort involving our members and our association, the government and other groups, including unions, can continue to move things in the right direction.”
In his first two weeks on the job, Mitchell already has been out and about meeting members around Melbourne.
“I’d say that from what I've heard so far some of the main issues our members are concerned about right now include industrial relations as well as training and apprentices," Mitchell says.
"I'll be meeting as many members as I can over the next few months to find out what they want and need and my role will be to feed back that information to the PIAA head office and our industrial relations team."