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The Future of Trade Unions in Australia and the Adoption of Europear Style Works Councils

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The Future of Trade Unions in Australia and the Adoption of Europear Style Works Councils
‘...the Australian union movement is in crisis’ (Cooper, 2005, p. 96). The early 90’s in Australia saw a significant drop for trade unions as a whole in both membership and density. Strategies were introduced to curb the decline but both changes to the Australian labour market and Government legislation have been too much for the unions to handle. This paper will discuss and critically examine the current state of trade unions, past strategies of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to combat their decline in density levels, the effects of Government legislation and what the future holds for trade unions in Australia. ‘It is undeniable that union power has declined significantly during the past 15 years’ (Cooper, 2005, p. 95). According to the most recent figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2008, trade union membership stood at 1.8 million with a density of 20.3% in August 2006 (No. 1301.0, 2008). The trade union movement in Australia has experienced nothing but decline since the mid 1970’s. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) have introduced several strategies to combat the decline, most notably with a mammoth amalgamation process through the early 90’s, then onto the recruitment strategies of unions@work 1999, Unions 2001: A blueprint for trade union activism, Future Strategies - Unions Working For a Fairer Society in 2003, and finally, to increase younger members and greater female representation through the Organising Works strategy.

Possibly the most significant strategy introduced by the ACTU as a reaction to their decline in membership was the amalgamation process that took place between 1989 and 1995 as part of the Future Strategies for the trade union movement - 1987. The aim: to create larger and more effective unions. This period saw a move from 299 unions to the point where ‘...close to 100 per cent of the members of ACTU affiliates were members of the largest 20 unions’
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