The role of trade unions

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Introduction

A trade union is an organisation formed by workers. In Australia,unions may acquire the status of a  (known as " ") over , working hours and other , meaning that such things are not set unilaterally by management, but must be agreed upon by both parties. In many circumstances, unions do not have such rights and workers may typically threaten  or other collective action to pressure employers to a mandate to negotiate with employers to maintain and improve wages and working conditions for the workers it represents. In such cases, unions have certain legal rights, most importantly the right to negotiate collectively with an employer. Unions often use their organizational strength to advocate for social policies and legislation favorable to their members or to workers in general.

However, trade union movements in Australia are confronting multiple challenges. Among the adversities that union leaders face they are pressing organizational problems:  union membership is eroding due to structural changes in the economy and society, unfavorable political and institutional conditions make organizing even more difficult, and attempts to attract and represent new social groups remain inefficient. De-unionization and its consequences for collective bargaining and the political clout of union movements has become a problem acknowledged nation wide.

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Analysis

  • Comparative studies stressed the shift to bargaining decentralization, labor market deregulation, and inflexibility of production as major changes to current industrial relations changes.  
  • Although the numbers of trade union members had increased to 2.7 million by 1990, the proportion of all employees who were trade union members had continued to decline to 41%. By the close of the century, there were 1.9 million union members, or 26% of all employees.
  • Factors contributing to the decline of trade union membership are likely to be changing work place relations, increase in part time and casual ...

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