We’re United For SA

Our candidates are workplace delegates, union activists, and everyday members who share one thing in common: a commitment to building a stronger union for you.

We can’t wait to introduce you to our full team of experienced union members from South Australia. In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview!

United For You will be running candidates from across the union and state.

Meet Your Team

Suzie Gounder

Disability Support Officer | Central Adelaide

I have been a UWU member for over 30 years and work at the Department of Human Services (DHS). I serve as both a Member Councillor and Delegate. I joined the union because it gave me a voice to fight for the rights of working people. Through stepping up and getting involved, I discovered my own power to create change for myself and my colleagues. Outside work, I am active in my local community centre, supporting elderly people and families in need.
I believe I have much to give. This year, I helped secure the biggest bargaining result I have ever seen. I want to help other members achieve their goals, know their rights, and feel empowered.
I believe in the union we have right now. We have so much potential to grow. We have just had some of the biggest wins I have ever seen for members in public sector, aged care and early education, and I want to be part of building on this success.

Sharon Anesbury

TL Tumby Bay Hospital | Northern Adelaide and Regional

I work as a Team Leader at Tumby Bay and Cummins Hospitals and have been a UWU member since 2016. I serve as a Delegate, Member Councillor, and was on the 2025 EBA bargaining team . My parents were union members and I first joined because we had unrest in our work environment. I became more involved when I became a Team Leader and was encouraged by my peers to utilise the union. Outside work, I have a beautiful family, four fur babies, and I support my kids in any sport they choose to play. I am loyal, I am honest and I shoot from the hip.
I have been on a learning journey since I stepped into the United Workers Union. I still have a lot to learn, but I also still have a lot to give. I want to make our union strong and like the name says, UNITED! I love meeting and working with people from all types of backgrounds. I want to be involved with progress and I want the opportunity to keep growing and winning the hard fights.

Demi Pnevmatikos

UWU SA State Secretary & Director Public Sector | Central Adelaide

I grew up in a union migrant family and going to protests, marches and picket lines was a normal part of my childhood. Being a worker meant being a union member. No other option. Being a union member is everything. It's part of life. It's the best and only and most effective way I know to change working peoples' lives for the better. I live with my husband and my son. We spend non-work time going on adventures, playing games and are a team who shower each other with love and support. I love listening to music and trying to get to a gig when I can. I've also developed a passion for exercise and fitness which I wake up super early to do.
I was forced by an employer to sign an AWA and felt first hand what it meant to feel alone and powerless and the victim of anti-worker IR laws. As a union official, there are so many transformational and ambitious campaigns I've led and fought alongside members to win. The recent public sector SA bargain is definitely a highlight. UWU members keep Australia running. I want everyone to realise that and help win the respect, recognition, pay and conditions our members are entitled to. I'm running because non-trade, non-professional workers are entitled to be ambitious and win big. I know how to make that happen. Our team knows how to make that happen. I want to build a union that wins big with members. Ambitious and life changing wins. Wins that change our country and economy. A national disability strategy that is well resourced and transforms the NDIS. Insourcing and reversing privatisation of public services and wage increases that improve members' standard of living. A massive hospitality campaign and a wine sector campaign. SA makes over 50% of Australia's wine, so the campaign starts here.
Our team knows what it takes to win big with members. We know that to do this you have to pull every lever, prioritise, be focused and strategic. We have the experience, are responsible with every cent of members' money, and have a proven track record of excellent governance. It's the right combination to take the union forward.

Larissa Harrison

Director of Legal & Research | Central Adelaide

I joined the union on my first day of work. I have always been a member of my relevant union, and I grew up seeing the importance of union in the lives of my parents and my family to make a difference. Being a union member means the ability to stand together, to build power and to improve lives. Employment law is my absolute passion. Representing UWU members in courts and tribunals across Australia is the best job I have ever had. Outside work, I am an active Labor party member and I love painting.
In the last 4 years, I have had the absolute privilege to represent UWU members in the Aged Care Work Value case delivering wage increases of up to 26%, the ECEC multi-employer agreement which now covers over 51,000 workers and 520 employers, gender undervaluation proceedings delivering wage increases of up to 28.5%, and same job same pay orders adding an estimated $10m each year to labour hire workers' pockets. The UWU has the best legal team in the country. We have recovered over $12.9m in just 12 months in wages and represented over 5000 members in cases in the last 4 years. We have done so much but there is still so much to do, and I want to be part of it.

Helen Gibbons

Director of People Culture & Capability | South Adelaide and the Hills

I've spent most of my life working in early education, during which time I was a proud union member and delegate. I originally trained as a primary teacher and developed great learning environments for the youngest members of our community. As an official, I led the Big Steps campaign, fighting to ensure educators are respected and recognised as the professionals they are. In 2022, I led thousands of early educators in a walk off that shut down centres across the country, demanding that the federal government deliver higher wages. I have always fought for workers, whether it was taking on Swan Services in 2013 when 50 Tasmanian cleaners were sacked by text message and locked out of their workplaces, or building the campaign that went on to win a 15% pay rise for early childhood educators.
I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together — but there is always more to do.
I want to see us invest more in training our delegates and strengthening the team that supports members when they face problems at work. As a former delegate, I know firsthand how vital good training and strong backing are. When delegates are confident and supported, our whole union is stronger.
I have always been a strong voice for early educators in everything I do. It would be an honour to continue working for Big Steps members - and for our mighty union.