Vale Dr Olga Lorenzo

Olga Lorenzo, much loved teacher in the Associate Degree in Professional Writing and Editing (PWE) at RMIT and NTEU union activist died earlier this year.

John Reeves, Acting Programs Manager, Associate Degree in Professional Writing and Editing and the PWE teaching team at RMIT

Our beloved PWE teacher Olga Lorenzo passed away in mid-February, at home, surrounded by her family. Olga was a brilliant writer. She won the Felix Meyer Scholarship and the Percival Serle Bequest at the University of Melbourne for her writing, as well as grants from Arts Victoria and the Australia Council, and a Varuna Fellowship.

Her stunning, lyrical debut, The Rooms in My Mother's House, was published in 1996 and shortlisted for various literary awards, and her latest book, The Light on the Water received rave reviews. Olga's 2018 launch speech was a masterpiece.

An exacting, compassionate and inspirational teacher, Olga taught writing at RMIT University and other Melbourne tertiary institutions for 19 years, holding a Masters and a PhD in creative writing from the University of Melbourne. She previously worked as a journalist and sub-editor for The Age.

A fearless unionist, Olga fought and won so many battles on behalf of the Professional Writing and Editing program, and we are all in her debt.

A hero who loved life, and a woman of style and charisma, Olga will be missed and loved by her students, her colleagues, and her friends. Our love and deepest condolences to Ellen, Anita and all the family.

Dr Melissa Slee, Victorian Division Secretary

NTEU is terribly sad to hear of the passing of Olga Lorenzo. Olga was a sensational trade unionist.

Bold, principled and outspoken, she campaigned for a better working life for Vocational Education (formerly TAFE) teachers at RMIT. From 2015 through to 2016, Olga played a vital, leading role in a gutsy union battle to secure a completely new Enterprise Agreement for RMIT’s teachers breaking them free of a desperately outdated TAFE Award.

Olga was among 20 teachers who had the foresight to identify the looming crisis in their workplace entitlements and approached to join the NTEU. Caught between two stools (VE teachers teaching HE Associate Degrees) they had no union and no (workable) Agreement. Upon joining the NTEU, they signed up 200 of their colleagues and went on to lead a campaign that defeated not one, but two, non-union ballots followed by bans and strikes.

After two years they finally broke through to deliver among the strongest wages and conditions for Vocational Education teachers in Victoria. Olga will be missed by all of her friends and comrades in the NTEU and lives on in her beautiful novels and the inspiring impact she has had on her many students over the years.