Richard Olsen
State Secretary
Richard Olsen has been with the Transport Workers Union of Australia for over 25 years, leading the fight for transport workers across the aviation and road transport sectors. Today, Richard is the Secretary for the New South Wales branch of the TWU, the largest TWU branch in Australia.
During his time at the TWU, Richard has represented transport workers across the union, leading the TWU through some of its fiercest disputes and negotiating some of the largest union agreements in the country.
More recently, Richard has been instrumental in ensuring Safe Rates for transport workers in his branch. This has included successfully defending and expanding a local Safe Rates system in NSW which has existed for over 40 years and using the system to win world-first minimum rates and conditions for gig economy couriers working for Amazon Flex.
Tony Matthews
President
Tony Matthews has been a member of the TWU since 1984, the same year he became an owner driver, working for Kwikasair. He became a TWU NSW delegate in the year 2000. Since day one he has been active in the fight for transparency and disclosure from companies who hire owner drivers, including in the fight for independent contractors under the Howard Government. He became TWU NSW President in 2019.
Marija Marsic
Assistant State Secretary
Director of WHS & Education
Marija Marsic has been a union member for over 25 years, including more than 10 years at the TWU. As a workplace delegate and OHS representative, Marija won a bullying and harassment case on behalf of members at her workplace, which triggered her interest in work health & safety and her career in the union movement.
Marija joined the TWU in 2012 as the Training Officer, and has trained thousands of TWU members across NSW and Queensland. She has helped build the TWU into the union with the most comprehensive, industry-focused training program anywhere in Australia. In 2021 Marija was elected as Assistant State Secretary, and is the first woman to occupy this role in the TWU’s 130-year history.
In partnership between the TWU NSW and the Workers Health Centre (WHC), Marija was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the organisation in February 2024 after serving on the Board of Directors for almost a decade representing Transport Workers, and most recently holding office as the Chair.
The WHC is a Not-for-Profit, union run Organisation in business since 1976, building services and investing in the interests of injured workers and their families. The WHC provides transparent, systematic injury management and return to work rehabilitation services for injured workers, and provide this service through their proud affiliation and association with the trade union movement in NSW.
Nick McIntosh
Assistant State Secretary
Nick McIntosh has proudly spent his adult working life standing alongside workers who keep this country moving. He’s been at TWU since 2006 when he completed the Union Winter program. He was then employed in the call centre, was a paralegal while studying at university, became a legal officer after graduating, then Chief of Staff of the NSW Branch, South Coast Sub-Branch Secretary and Assistant NSW Secretary until 2018 when he became Assistant National Secretary.
Jason Larfield
Vice President – State
Jason Larfield became a member of the TWU in 2001, the same year he began doing B-double line haul work. He was a delegate at Finemores for 9 years, and today he remains a powerful voice for TWU members in the bush, including multiple stints campaigning in Canberra for Safe Rates on their behalf. He became TWU NSW Vice President – State in 2019.
Klaus Pinkas
ACT Sub-branch Secretary
Klaus Pinkas has been a member of the TWU since 1985. Born and raised in Canberra, one of Klaus’ first jobs was as a garbo with Tiger Waste. He was heavily involved as a Delegate, and later became President of the ACT Sub-Branch Executive Committee. He became a TWU NSW official in 2004, and has been ACT and Far South Coast Sub-branch Secretary since 2009.
Mick Forbes
Newcastle and Northern Sub-Branch Secretary
Mick Forbes has been a member of the TWU since 1984, when he began working for Comet Transport in Newcastle. He took up an activist role as a co-Delegate in 1996, and became head Delegate in 2000. In 2002 Mick was elected a member of the Newcastle and Northern Sub-branch Executive Committee and from there was voted onto the Branch Committee of Management. Mick has been Newcastle and Northern Sub-branch Secretary since 2009.
Rob Pirc
South Coast and Southern Sub-Branch Secretary
Rob Pirc came on board as a TWU Official in 2006, organising in the ports industry and in yards from Sydney to Sutherland. He was instrumental in creating the Ports Committee, made up of TWU Delegates from all the major companies around the ports. Together they brought every single group of worker on to TWU agreements, and won many industry-wide changes to benefit the lives of ports workers. Rob was also involved in setting up the first TWU Agreements for Fed Ex, UPS and Wymap. After working as an Official for 10 years, Rob became the South Coast and Southern Sub-branch Secretary in 2016.
Branch Committee of Management (BCOM)
The TWU NSW Branch Committee of Management is comprised of workplace leaders and senior officials, democratically elected from across the transport industry. BCOM makes decisions about the direction of the union, our plans for the years ahead, and ensures the NSW Branch’s financial health.