The declining trend of unionism in Australia

Due date: Monday 24th May, 2004

In Australia today, almost all labour industries have a supporting board, known as a trade union. Trade unions have existed for over 150 years and currently there are over 1.8 million union members (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002). A trade union is an organisation consisting mainly of employees, who act together to negotiate their conditions of employment (Huntley & Huntley 1976). Unions use the power of a large collective membership to offset the superior economic power of employers and push to improve the wellbeing of their members in the workplace (Pocock 1994).

There are numerous perspectives on the labour movement and the role of unions. The Australian Government assumes a unitarist view, which states that the employment relationship is based on mutual cooperation, a shared goal and a harmony of interests between employees and employers. They see unions as an unwanted disturbance to the organisation’s unified structure that compete for the loyalty and commitment of employees (Wishart 1992).

In contrast, pluralism recognises that conflict is inevitable within the workplace and employees are likely to create common interest groups outside the membership of their organisation and develop a loyalty and membership to leaders other than the workplace management. Trade unions are viewed as the legitimate representatives of employee interests at work, with the right to challenge management (Deery, Plowman, Walsh & Brown 2002).

The radical perspective of industrial relations shares the pluralist idea that fundamental and inherent conflicts of interest exist between workers and employers, however, while pluralists believe that the conflict is not total and parties share at least some common goals, those with a radical view believe that conflict derives from the unequal distribution of income and wealth in capitalist society and underlies everything that occurs in industrial relations. The radical perspective states that the vulnerability of employees as individuals leads them to form unions so that they can challenge management and the inequality of society (Deery et al. 2002).

The history of unions stretches back to the gold rush days of the 1850’s. The discovery of gold brought many immigrants to Australia who were sympathetic to unionism, and economic prosperity created labour shortages giving the workers bargaining power. Skilled workers were the first to form unions and rallied for the eight-hour workday, believing that a fair day involved eight hours work, eight hours rest and eight hours leisure (Horsely, Martin, Winzar, Mattarozzi & Weate 1983). When the gold ran out in the 1860’s, the economy was depressed and demands for improved wages and conditions were much less successful. When economic conditions improved in the 1870’s and 1880’s, unions were able to make significant gains and union popularity grew. By 1885 there were over 100 unions, across both skilled and unskilled industries, and membership had grown to almost 50,000 members. The economic depression that hit in 1890 reversed most of the gains obtained by the unions and employers pushed for their ability to negotiate directly with workers rather than the unions. The depression was disastrous for the unions, employers employed non-union ‘scab’ labour to break strikes and reduced the capacity for employees to bargain collectively. To combat their loss of power, unions formed their own political party, the Labour Party, and priority was placed on enacting legislation which protected working conditions and created a social welfare system (Deery et al. 2002).

In the early 1900’s, the development of the state and federal conciliation and arbitration systems provided unions with a degree of stability and security. The Arbitration Court encouraged the organisation of workers and gave incentives for individuals to become union members. From 1901 to 1921, the proportion of union members rose from 6% to 52%, and 382 unions existed. In 1927, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) formed as a consolidation of many existing unions and engaged in regular consultation with the government over key aspects of policy making in Australia. Union membership peaked in the 1950’s, when 60% of employees were union members, but has fallen significantly in recent years (Linehan 1997).

In the early 80’s, union membership had fallen to 45% (Cook 1992), and in 1999 this had declined to 24%, but over the past few years membership has begun to level out. In 2001, membership had crept up to 25% (Bombig 2001), but in 2003 this figure had dropped to 23% (AAP Australian National News Wire 2004). The decline in union membership has been echoed internationally, in Europe, America, New Zealand and the UK (Berry 2004; Dolliver 2004; Dolvik & Waddington 2004; Kosters 2004; May 2003; Reid 2004).

There are several reasons for the decline in union membership, including structural ...