Trade Unions in Australia

Title: Unions have played a significant role in workforce history, have they outlived their purpose.

Unions were a major turning point in Canada’s labor industry since they were meant to put the power of government behind the rights of the workers for them to bargain collectively with their employees on matters like working conditions, wages, and working hours. Trade unions were supposed to protect workers against arbitrary decisions like sudden wage cuts, layoffs and firing. Trade unions were majorly meant to protect the interest of the workers. Employers, however, do not like trade unions. In an economy that has a lot of uncertainty, employers want to have the flexibility of cutting wages, hiring and firing and also adding extra hours to the workers when there is a need. However, there is a decline in labor unions due to the current employment shift. There was a shift in employment from industries that had high unionization rates like the manufacturing and construction industries to occupations with lower unionization rates like retail trade and professional services. Even though most of the things trade unions did like ensuring comfortable working conditions have been enshrined in the law, trade unions are still crucial in ensuring workers are safe in their workplace.

In the last 23 years, there has been a rise in non-unionized workers but a decline in the unionized workers "(See Appendix)" The biggest reason or the decline in Union membership are the businesses that are spending a great deal of time

     The past of Unions is indisputable; however, the outlook can be altered to form a promising future. The reversal of history can be done through reconstruction and restatement of workers rights. A reestablishment of worker liberties should be considered in order to clarify any confusion in which present and prospective employees are faced with. Unions are notorious for being tyrannical and inconsiderate towards employees and thus union heads should confront this issue head on and give workers a voice (i.e. vote). In order to regain union strength in today’s society I believe Unions must give workers honorable rights and a democratic right to be heard.

While the public opinion towards unions has softened in the recent years, unions still face a monumental task in trying to regain, or even maintain membership levels. In order to maintain their current proportion of the workforce, unions must organize 300,000 workers a year. In order to even begin to approach the

The past 30 years have been gloomy ones for the labor movement. In the American private sector trade-union membership has fallen from a third in 1979 to just 7% today. There is an exception to this story of decline: public unions in America has strengthened over the same period from 11% to 36%. There are now more American workers in unions in the public sector (7.6m) than in the private sector (7.1m), although the private sector employs five times as many people. This private-public move has changed the trade union movement. In the 1950s unions were steady working class, men who had left school at 16 and inclined to go left on economics but right on social issues. Today they are much more middle-class: more than a quarter of American unionists

Employers initially resisted unions as they were seen as a ‘tool of worker power’, and some countries even banned the groups all together (Baoill 2011). Although these restraints have been lifted, restrictions and guidelines have been put in place by government bodies to govern union activity; and employees internationally have the right to form unions (Baoill 2011).

It is clear that you conducted a thorough research on this topic.  Your points also addresses the fact that unions become strong when employee are treated unfairly and their needs are not met.  In addition, union members are more open to the promise of union representatives ensuring fair labor.  However, as employees become better educated, as in the U.S., where there are increase in labor laws, there is a decline in membership.

The labor union movement over the years has shaped the way individuals work and live for both the nicest and unpleasant. Some would think the unions influence has created a power struggle between management and union leaders. In today’s time, some citizens insist the existence of unions are a must to aid in employee freedom, while others view the labor unions as just another problem in the line of progress. The purpose of labor unions was for employed workers to come together and collectively agree on fundamental workplace objectives. The rise of the union came about after the Civil War- responding to the industrial economy. Surprisingly at the least unions became popular within the 1930-50’s and began to slowly decrease,

“The trade union movement represents the organized economic power of the workers... It is in reality the most potent and the most direct social insurance the workers can establish.” Samuel Gompers. A trade union is an organization of workers who have come together to achieve common goals such as protecting the integrity of its trade, improving safety standards, achieving higher pay and benefits such as health care and retirement, increasing the number of employees an employer assigns to complete the work, and better working conditions. Unions are of a great benefit for workers and communities as being in an union delivers better pay alongside benefits and a right to fair treatment becomes enforce. Displayed by the Canadian Labour Congress’s

Everyone gets a raise and benefits at the same rate as everyone else. There is no favouritism and no one cannot be treated unfairly by the economy. (Equality)

With the benefits of the objectives of a union evident, why has Australian unions witnessed a decline in membership? There are many reasons to suggest a decline in membership, but three main factors stand out. They are; the changing composition of employment; the casual effects of the business cycle; and, the introduction of the Accord (Deery et al, 2000).

The Fair Work Commission is Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal. They are responsible in maintaining the minimum wages/salaries and working conditions. They also deal with a range of other work related and employment problems and disputes.

As NZCTU (2010) explains everyone deserves respectful and effective work conditions that offer choice, fairness, and protection. But employee rights are vulnerable to the whims of government and employers. People seek and join unions primarily to improve a problematic situation at work. The collective benefits provided such as support, enhanced pay and conditions, training and education, legal advice and monetary services are another (Tolich & Harcourt, 1999). As well as unions providing these benefits, people are more likely to join if their ideology is left wing oriented (Deery & De Cieri, 1991, as cited in Tolich & Harcourt, 1999). Evidence of this can be seen in Waddington and Whitson (1997) and Tolich and Harcourt’s (1999) studies which looked into why people join unions, with the general reason being, ‘support if I

Though, unions are declining, the role of union have evolved over time. Now, it is more common to view unions’ primary role as collective bargaining, which is the product of the economic decision and making process with unionism of the private sector. A long time ago, Union was seen as the shield that protects American workers against some of the abusive employers. Many public sector employees have unionized. However, the National Labor Relations Act was designed for the private sector. Despite that, union has become a model for most public sector collective bargaining right. Regardless of the success that Unions have with collective bargaining in the private sector, there are still a few who are opposed collective bargaining in the public sector. Of course, there are some differences between the public and private sectors.