tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/turc-19889/articlesTURC – The Conversation2016-04-28T20:13:47Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/572022016-04-28T20:13:47Z2016-04-28T20:13:47ZSorting the gems from the dung in the royal commission on union corruption<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120116/original/image-20160426-22369-146169x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Attorney-General George Brandis announce the findings of the trade union royal commission in December 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Open up <a href="https://www.tradeunionroyalcommission.gov.au/reports/Documents/InterimReportVol2.pdf">volume two</a> of the report of the <a href="https://www.tradeunionroyalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx">Royal Commission into Trade Union Corruption and Governance</a>, and the first substantive thing you encounter is an unattributed poem – about blackmail. </p>
<p>Written before the first world war, it was seen as an argument against peace with future enemies. By placing it here, commissioner Dyson Heydon consciously likens unions, particularly the Maritime Union of Australia, to Viking raiders and says that if you give in to union demands once, they will keep coming back until you finally defeat them. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118112/original/image-20160411-21959-fjs88a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118112/original/image-20160411-21959-fjs88a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118112/original/image-20160411-21959-fjs88a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118112/original/image-20160411-21959-fjs88a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118112/original/image-20160411-21959-fjs88a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118112/original/image-20160411-21959-fjs88a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118112/original/image-20160411-21959-fjs88a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The poem that opens volume 2 of the royal commission report.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Original by Rudyard Kipling</span></span>
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<p>It’s hardly an unbiased view of trade unions in 21st century Australia. Nor is it the only <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/31/hes-staying-no-bias-dyson-heydon-slices-his-reasons-deli-thin">hint</a> of <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/senator-stephen-conroy-exposes-heydons-full-links-to-the-liberal-party,8079">bias</a> in the <a href="https://winstonclose.me/2016/01/19/royal-commission-proposes-major-attack-despite-its-weak-findings-written-by-steph-price/">report</a> <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-22/long-why-is-no-one-questioning-the-turc-narrative/6868102">nor</a> <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/turc-clears-shorten-does-itself-no-favours/news-story/c5824a23aecbdf56309bb39b33f2b8a8">in</a> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/apr/06/return-to-sender-unions-royal-commission-apologises-over-privacy-blunder">its</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/heydons-email-trail-for-barwick-dinner-made-its-liberal-connections-clear-from-the-start-46211">behaviour</a>.</p>
<p>And why should it be unbiased? A royal commission is not a court, it is an <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-22/long-why-is-no-one-questioning-the-turc-narrative/6868102">arm of the executive government</a>, or what Heydon called an “administrative inquiry”. A royal commission report is like a huge, and very expensive, consultancy report. </p>
<p>Lobby groups and governments use consultancy reports because they give the aura of third-party endorsement to things others want to do. Marketers <a href="http://articles.bplans.com/the-astonishing-power-of-3rd-party-endorsements/">refer to</a> third-party endorsements as “one of the most powerful forces in the universe for anyone marketing a product”. They promise <a href="http://ivyworldwide.com/services/third-party-endorsement/">“campaigns to obtain third-party endorsement”</a> and to <a href="http://ivyworldwide.com/about-us/">“build trust through third-party influencers”</a>. </p>
<p>Journalists, with some <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/dark-art-of-econometrics/2007/08/26/1188066946510.html?page=fullpage">noble</a> <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/fact-checker/is-tony-abbotts-cop-on-the-beat-worth-6-billion-20130828-2spkd.html">exceptions</a>, rarely challenge the assumptions of consultancy reports providing third-party endorsements. </p>
<p>A report produced by royal commission is even better. Its <a href="https://www.tradeunionroyalcommission.gov.au/reports/Documents/Final-Report/Volume-1/V1-Introduction.docx">“expressions of opinion”</a> endorsing a particular agenda have a judicial aura. They <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/a-rocky-road-for-unwary-royal-commissioners">“attract public confidence as being impartial, non-political and independent”</a>. But, in the end, they are written by an arm of the executive, not the judiciary.</p>
<h2>Why focus on unions?</h2>
<p>And there are much bigger fish to fry than trade unions. Lawbreaking within the 7-Eleven franchise chain might reportedly total <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/7eleven-compensation-wage-bill-may-top-100-million-20160408-go1eo7.html">A$100 million</a>, though there is little sign the <a href="http://www.domain.com.au/news/7eleven-supremo-beverley-barlow-buys-20-million-recordsmashing-brighton-mansion-20150529-ghbdr7/">mansions</a> or <a href="http://www.afr.com/brand/rear-window/7eleven-boss-russ-withers-buys-new-private-jet-20150929-gjxifn">private jets</a> of the owners are at risk. </p>
<p>This dwarfs what seems the largest amount at issue in the royal commission – the <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/exhsu-secretary-kathy-jackson-ordered-to-pay-13m-compo-for-misusing-union-funds/news-story/b16b3fab2804bb9c1bc9c81fe94a796d">$1.4 million</a> that “whistleblower” Kathy Jackson was ordered to repay, with workers perhaps missing out on <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/workers-amazed-that-kathy-jacksons-hsu-got-250000-payment-20140729-zy4h4.html">$2 million</a> of back-pay from her activities. </p>
<p>Other recent issues include an alleged <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/commonwealth-bank-staff-implicated-in-alleged-76m-fraud-20160204-gmllia.html">$76 million</a> Ponzi scheme operating out of a major bank, a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/no-jail-for-two-men-involved-170-million-home-loan-fraud-20151216-glonif.html">$170 million</a> home-loan fraud scheme, allegations of interest rate rigging over two years netting <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-06/asic-hauls-westpac-into-court-on-rate-rigging-regulations/7302340">$12 million</a> profit in just one day, <a href="http://warfield.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pub2.pdf">$164 million</a> of employee fraud attributed to gambling addictions, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2016/the-bribe-factory/day-1/leighton-news.html">“tens of millions” of dollars</a> bribes paid by an Australian construction company, <a href="http://asic.gov.au/for-business/your-business/small-business/compliance-for-small-business/small-business-illegal-phoenix-activity/">$655 million</a> per year in unpaid wages and entitlements by “phoenix” corporations, including in construction, untold losses in tax avoidance <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-04/explained-what-are-the-leaked-mossack-fonseca-panama-papers/7270690">through the use of offshore entities</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/electoral-commission-makes-a-stand-on-liberal-breaches-of-nsw-donations-laws-56920">politics</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/the-education-free-for-all/7308006#transcript">more</a>. </p>
<p>Yet that bias, and the ignoring by government of worse evils, does not mean that unions can avoid dealing with the issue – because the potential impacts on them are important.</p>
<h2>The effects on unions</h2>
<p>To assess the effects on union, we should consider what research tells us are the reasons people join and leave unions, or do not do so.</p>
<p>Workers’ views about union membership are heavily <a href="http://www.legacy-irc.csom.umn.edu/faculty/jbudd/research/firstexposure.pdf">shaped by experience</a>. So, in unionised workplaces – especially those with delegates – views about success or failure of the union will shape what people do. </p>
<p>The things that are under the <a href="http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/30100/59865_1.pdf?sequence=1">influence of unions</a> are several times more important than the things under the influence of management in determining union effectiveness. They are, to a significant extent, inoculated from the royal commission’s discourse.</p>
<p>In non-union workplaces, on the other hand, many workers have no personal experience of a union. They are much more influenced by what others, including the media, tell them. It is harder for an individual union to directly determine that. Non-unionists may be more influenced by the royal commission’s narrative, and by perceptions of whether unions are corrupt, self-serving or the like.</p>
<p>There has been a significant drop in <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyCatalogue/A8CAED8E5F9FB2E1CA257F1F00044E8C?OpenDocument">union membership</a> in the last couple of years, even after accounting for some oddities in the data. The data suggest, though, that it is not due to a drop in people joining unions but to a <a href="https://www.workplaceexpress.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&stream=1&selkey=54130&hlc=2&hlw=peetz&s_keyword=peetz&s_searchfrom_date=631112400&s_searchto_date=1460434031&s_pagesize=20&s_word_match=2&s_articles=1">growing number of exits</a> from unions, especially among people who have joined in the last few years. </p>
<p>This suggests that the effort that has gone into recruitment has not been matched by retention – and also that the royal commission’s narrative is not causing most of the recent drop in union membership. But it still might.</p>
<p>Changes in union density, over the longer term, have <a href="http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/7068/21175_1.pdf?sequence=1">not been driven</a> by changes in public approval of unions. However, as the number of non-unionists increases, such attitudes become more important. And if some of the royal commission’s recommendations are adopted, the power of unions in unionised workplaces would decline – and that would affect union membership there as well. </p>
<p>If unions are unable to overcome the royal commission’s narrative and develop an effective response, the decline will likely continue and worsen.</p>
<h2>The union response</h2>
<p>Unions need to work out which of the recommendations are worth considering – to sort out the gems from the dung. </p>
<p>Amid all the bias, including unacceptable recommendations for parliamentary control of a specific union, or increased right of entry requirements penalties for breaches, there are some worth supporting. These include for expanded disclosure requirements, retaining minutes, and mandating financial management training.</p>
<p>Others could be accepted with modifications, to focus on fiduciary duty rather than industrial behaviour. <a href="https://www.workplaceexpress.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&stream=13-1&selkey=54214&hlc=2&hlw=">Some observers</a> have given close attention to what is worth supporting and <a href="https://workplaceinfo.com.au/industrial-relations/unions/analysis/was-the-union-royal-commission-really-worth-it#.Vx9chKNcSko">why or why not</a>. </p>
<p>Unions also must take action against corruption in their own ranks. The trouble is, the Australian Council of Trade Unions has minimal power over affiliates. That means individual unions must have mechanisms in place for good governance. Many do. But it’s clear that some greedy individuals have created ammunition for the opponents of unionism.</p>
<p>Members have a right to a decent say in what their own union does. Research shows democratic unionism is <a href="http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/30100/59865_1.pdf?sequence=1">essential for union growth</a>, and democratic unionism is impossible if there is corruption. </p>
<p>Unions must also be seen to be doing the right thing, because that’s going to influence future recruitment into unions. </p>
<p>Many of the recommendations are not about improving democracy in unions. Much of the government response is not that way either. The defeated legislation to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission, for example, would deal with neither <a href="https://theconversation.com/bringing-back-building-watchdog-helps-a-political-agenda-but-not-concerns-about-union-corruption-54051">corruption</a> nor <a href="http://johnmenadue.com/blog/?p=6121">productivity</a>, and targets one industry. Whatever compulsory interrogations of building workers do, they don’t make unions more democratic. </p>
<p>The Registered Organisations legislation creates fines for ordinary union members and, given the ability and track record of government in making heavily biased appointments in industrial relations, runs the risk of establishing another partisan body targeting unions rather than improving governance.</p>
<p>It’s very clear that unions aren’t the only site in public life where corruption exists. But it’s harder for unions to point to those other areas of corruption if the media is focused on bad governance in unions. No matter how biased the report, and despite the fact that the media hold union officials to much higher standards than they hold others in positions of greater power, unions must confront governance problems in their ranks. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.actu.org.au/media/886480/leaders-forum-2016-program-summary.pdf">Like</a> organising, digital campaigning, recruitment of young workers, retention, better use of data and developing narratives, it is a part of <a href="http://workinglife.org.au/2015/11/16/reinventing-unions-in-the-age-of-disruption/">“reinventing”</a> unions and needs to be included in that agenda. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other pieces in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/changing-face-of-unions">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Peetz receives funding from the Australian Research Council and, as a university employee, has undertaken research over many years with occasional financial support from governments from both sides of politics in Australia and overseas, employers and unions.</span></em></p>Unions may well feel justifiably aggrieved by the findings – and impact – of the trade union royal commission, but there are nonetheless lessons to be learnt from them.David Peetz, Professor of Employment Relations, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/574762016-04-27T00:44:56Z2016-04-27T00:44:56ZHow the influence of trade unions on the Labor Party is overestimated<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118850/original/image-20160415-11461-2nack7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Transport Workers' Union is one of the three most influential unions within the ALP. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Josephine Lim</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian Labor Party was formed by trade unions in the 1890s. It is one of a small number in the world where unions affiliate directly with the party. This gives the unions significant representation in the party’s internal structures and forums, and influence in choice of parliamentary candidates. </p>
<p>Organisational integration facilitates the convergence of ideology and personnel. The relationship provides mutual benefits through influence on party policy for the unions, and financial and personnel resources for electoral campaigns.</p>
<h2>How has the relationship changed over time?</h2>
<p>In the early 1900s, most unions were affiliated with the ALP. These were predominantly blue-collar unions, but with the decline in manufacturing their significance has shrunk.</p>
<p>From the 1960s, unionisation of white-collar and professional workers grew rapidly. The <a href="http://www.anmfvic.asn.au/">nurses’ union</a> is now the largest in Australia, and the public sector is the main base of union membership. </p>
<p>However, many white-collar, professional and public sector unions – the nurses’, teachers’, academics’ and state public service unions – have not affiliated to the ALP. The “typical” union member is now a white-collar professional and likely to be a member of an unaffiliated union.</p>
<p>Union membership has fallen from a peak of about 60% of the workforce in 1954 to 15% today. This international phenomenon has motivated some weakening of the connection between labour or social democratic parties and unions everywhere. </p>
<p>Unions’ political capital has therefore declined, as they are more easily cast as one interest group among many. So, reforming the unions-party relationship has been an issue in ALP forums since 1979, most recently under Bill Shorten’s leadership. However, change has been limited. </p>
<p>The proportion of former union officials who are ALP members of parliament has also declined. In 1901 former union officials accounted for 79% of federal parliamentary party members. This has declined to 45%. </p>
<p>This is still a high proportion given the level of union membership in the community, but figures are deceptive. Unlike in 1901, most former union officials in the parliamentary party have limited experience as workers in the industry their union covers. More commonly, they have been appointed as professional union or political operatives after university. </p>
<h2>Do different unions deal with the party differently?</h2>
<p>Unaffiliated unions, representing perhaps a majority now, do not have direct input into the ALP’s forums and processes. Few Labor MPs are former union officials from these unions.</p>
<p>However, even among affiliated unions, there is a small number that wield the greatest clout within the party. </p>
<p>Almost half of the former union members who are federal parliamentary party members come from just three unions: the <a href="http://www.sda.org.au/">Shop Distributive and Allied Industries Union</a> (seven), <a href="http://www.twu.com.au/">Transport Workers’ Union</a> (five) and the <a href="http://www.asu.asn.au/">Australian Services Union</a> (five). </p>
<h2>How much power do they have in the party?</h2>
<p>Affiliated unions have substantial influence in the ALP. They influence party policy and its implementation by “quiet” internal lobbying through party structures, and close association and convergence of union and party elites. Clearly, unions with blocs of parliamentary members have an advantage in this regard. </p>
<p>Affiliated unions also account for 50% of delegates at federal and state party conferences that determine policy. This was reduced from 60% in 2003, but it remains a focal point for those wishing to reduce union influence in the party.</p>
<p>However, union power within the ALP is often exaggerated. Unions never vote as a single bloc at conferences. Decision-making in the party is <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/sunday-explainer-the-factions-running-the-alp-20150618-ghryk0.html">dominated by formalised factions</a> – mainly the “Socialist Left” and “Centre Unity” – which spawn numerous sub-factions. </p>
<p>The factions are unified less by ideology nowadays, but have been characterised as clans that distribute influence and rewards. This has <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/au/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/australian-politics/labors-conflict-big-business-workers-and-politics-class?format=PB">contributed to</a> a centralisation of power within a professional political elite and a reduction in the role of rank-and-file party members, from both branches and unions. </p>
<p>Unions have perennially complained that, once in parliament, former officials develop different or broader perspectives, because of the need to balance competing political and community interests, especially when the ALP forms government. It has often been claimed that the influence runs from the party to the unions, rather than vice versa. </p>
<p>This tendency is exacerbated by parliamentary members rarely coming through the ranks of unions now, even if they have worked with them for a period.</p>
<p>Insofar as there is a problem with union power within the ALP, it derives from influential unions not being representative of unions as a whole.</p>
<h2>Shorten and the unions</h2>
<p>Unions remain Australia’s largest representative civic institutions. Their membership far exceeds those who regularly attend religious services of any denomination. </p>
<p>About 20% of non-union members report that they would join unions if they had the opportunity. Surveys show that more than 60% of the population believe unions are important for working people, with almost half believing workers would be better off if unions were stronger. Unions also collectively represent <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/6306.0Main%20Features2May%202014?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=6306.0&issue=May%202014&num=&view=">60% of the workforce</a> in bargaining for conditions through enterprise agreements and/or awards.</p>
<p>Union membership was similar to now when the ALP was formed, but this did not prevent it from developing a major electoral base. The ability of all unions, including the unaffiliated, to organise effective grassroots campaigns in the electorates under ACTU leadership was <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2010.00788.x/abstract">clearly demonstrated</a> by the Your Rights at Work Campaign that brought the ALP to power in 2007. </p>
<p>The Coalition attempts to depict union association as a negative after the <a href="https://www.tradeunionroyalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx">trade union royal commission</a>, but Shorten does not appear to have lost credibility after his appearance before the commission. The commission’s findings regarding corruption were slight, relating mainly to one union. The final report’s assertion that it had uncovered the “tip of an iceberg” of widespread corruption was not based on evidence.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other pieces in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/changing-face-of-unions">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ray Markey is a member of the National Tertiary Education Union, which is not affiliated with the ALP.. </span></em></p>While trade unions still exert some influence on the ALP, it is nowhere near as much as it once was.Ray Markey, Director of the Centre for Workforce Futures, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/572112016-04-20T20:14:12Z2016-04-20T20:14:12ZThe state of the union(s): how a perfect storm weakened the workers’ voices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118835/original/image-20160415-11420-1lf6n81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just after the second world war, union membership was almost 65% of the workforce. Now it is just 15%.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>With the Senate again rejecting the government’s bill to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has the triggers he needs for a double-dissolution election on July 2. Unions will be a key issue in the campaign. In a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/changing-face-of-unions">series</a> starting today, we take a close look at the history of trade unions in Australia, their political links, why their membership bases eroded and where they need to go from here in order to be a relevant and constructive force in Australian working life.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The governance, conduct and purpose of trade unions in Australia have been the focus of much recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/bringing-back-building-watchdog-helps-a-political-agenda-but-not-concerns-about-union-corruption-54051">political debate</a>, not to mention <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/lawyers-enjoy-25-million-windfall-from-unions-royal-commission-20150710-gia0wo.html">public expenditure</a>. Given the level of interest, you could be forgiven for assuming Australia’s union movement is at the height of its power and, as such, a key political and economic issue.</p>
<p>But Australia’s union movement is facing a perfect storm. Union membership is at its lowest point since before federation. Only 15% of employees are <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/MediaRealesesByCatalogue/A4A44798D68CAFB9CA257EEA000C5421?OpenDocument">union members</a> in their main job. That number drops to 11% in the private sector.</p>
<p>This is a far cry from the peak of 64.6% in 1948 and the consistent minimum of close to 40% the union movement enjoyed continuously from <a href="http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/40801/69891_1.pdf?sequence=1">1913 to 1992</a>.</p>
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<p>Union membership has fluctuated over the last century. But, it has plummeted since the early 1990s. What caused this? And what are some of the solutions being raised to stem the decline?</p>
<h2>Falling membership base</h2>
<p>A list of suggested triggers and exacerbating factors has emerged. Many reflect the international trend of union decline in advanced economies – but with an Australian twist. </p>
<p>The Australian system of conciliation and arbitration was born as a “historic compromise” between capital and labour. It was brokered just after federation in an attempt to circumvent industrial unrest, particularly in the maritime and agriculture sectors. </p>
<p>It enshrined a system in which representation of worker and employer interests was formally institutionalised. This led to growth in the number of unions, as well as unions’ significant engagement with – if not reliance on – the arbitration system.</p>
<p>The demise of the “blue-collar working class” and structural change that reduced the Australian manufacturing sector, beginning in the mid-1970s, struck at the heart of male-dominated union membership. The move towards a service-based economy further aggravated the situation. Unions lagged in attempts to organise low-paid female-dominated sectors.</p>
<p>It has been suggested that this factor was the king-hit for Australian unionism. But political and regulatory change arguably amplified its impact.</p>
<p>The election of the Hawke Labor government and the inception of the Accord between it and unions (via the ACTU) in 1983 could be seen as a high point of union political power. Though theoretically a tripartite agreement including employers, under the Accord unions essentially negotiated with the government to determine wage claims in exchange for improvements to the social wage through Medicare, superannuation and changes to tertiary education. </p>
<p>The Accord era undoubtedly placed Australian unions close to the heart of national policymaking. But that influence had currency only while Labor was in power. And it was not consistent even across the life of the Hawke/Keating governments.</p>
<p>Some argue that the Accord accelerated the decline in union membership (by more than 15% during the Accord years of 1983 to 1996) and reinforced union dependency on the state at the expense of rank-and-file activism. Also, the amalgamation process that began in the late 1980s – which was intended to provide economies of scale in “super-unions” – weakened many unions’ occupational identity.</p>
<h2>What’s happened recently?</h2>
<p>Regulatory change (beginning in the Accord years and ongoing), which decentralised bargaining and gradually dismantled the arbitration system, has relegated unions to the political and economic periphery. </p>
<p>A situation has emerged where unions cannot effectively challenge the proliferation of “non-standard” work arrangements – such as increased casualisation and independent contracting. As a result, unions are institutionally marginalised. Paradoxically, their capacity to effect change on the ground through membership power is limited by the difficulties in organising “non-standard” workers. </p>
<p>Australian unions have faced an increasingly hostile political environment which has fuelled regulatory change. This began with the Howard government’s notorious WorkChoices framework, which privileged individual bargaining, limited union access to workplaces and imposed greater barriers to industrial action. </p>
<p>Unions have not been passive recipients of these changes. They have tried – through amalgamations, the adoption of new organising techniques, and political campaigning – to reverse their fortunes. </p>
<p>But they have faced an almost perfect storm that is set to continue with the disruption of traditional industries and jobs, the intensification of competitive pressures on labour through the implementation of multilateral trade agreements and the political focus on industrial relations reforms.</p>
<p>Regardless of how unions survive this tempest, they will need to innovate and adapt to a continually evolving climate. If not, a key element of Australian social democracy will shrivel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Kaine is a member of the NTEU.</span></em></p>A diminishing membership base, changes to labour and industry and heightened political attention has left the once-powerful trade union movement flailing.Sarah Kaine, Associate Professor in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/563602016-03-28T19:08:13Z2016-03-28T19:08:13ZHow unions are changing in a bid for relevance – and survival<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115970/original/image-20160322-32300-wj9s52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Struggling to get new members, unions are looking at new recruitment methods and options to bolster their numbers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Tracey Nearmy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention. As Australian unions face increasingly urgent challenges to their legitimacy and influence, it comes as no surprise they are busy rethinking how best to represent their members and reverse the decline in membership they have experienced over the last 30 years.</p>
<p>Last year, unions and their activities faced intense scrutiny from the trade union royal commission (TURC). Damning in its <a href="https://www.tradeunionroyalcommission.gov.au/reports/Pages/default.aspx">assessment</a> of widespread and deep-seated union misconduct, the TURC made extensive recommendations for legislative reform of union governance arrangements. </p>
<p>Similarly, a Productivity Commission <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/workplace-relations#report">report</a> last year recommended a raft of changes to workplace relations arrangements.</p>
<p>Now the Turnbull government <a href="https://theconversation.com/turnbull-ultimatum-july-2-double-dissolution-unless-reconvened-senate-passes-industrial-relations-bills-56586">has announced</a> it will call a double-dissolution election over industrial relations if two bills to reintroduce the Australian Building and Construction Commission and to tighten regulation and oversight of unions and employer associations are again rejected by the Senate. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6333.0">most recent figures</a>, from August 2014, show that union members make up just 15.1% of the workforce – down from 17% a year earlier. The problem for unions is not just that members are leaving, but that a majority of the workforce has never joined.</p>
<p>Workers taking up union membership has slowed to a trickle. Those who have been a member for less than five years account for a very small proportion of all union members – between 2.5% and 6.3% for different age groups. Most people decide to join a union relatively early in their working life – if at all – and unions are struggling to replenish membership stocks of younger workers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115964/original/image-20160322-32300-tzbbi1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115964/original/image-20160322-32300-tzbbi1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115964/original/image-20160322-32300-tzbbi1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115964/original/image-20160322-32300-tzbbi1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115964/original/image-20160322-32300-tzbbi1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115964/original/image-20160322-32300-tzbbi1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115964/original/image-20160322-32300-tzbbi1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1. Union membership, and membership duration by age cohort, August 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABS Cat. No. 6333.0 Characteristics of Employment, Australia, August 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Negotiating collective agreements is a key union activity. They make unions more attractive to workers by delivering a “wage premium” and other benefits. However, unions are <a href="https://www.employment.gov.au/trends-federal-enterprise-bargaining">now struggling</a> to maintain their influence on this front. At the end of the December 2010 quarter, there were 25,193 current agreements. By the end of the September 2015 quarter, this had fallen to 15,229 – or 39.6% fewer than five years earlier. </p>
<p>A range of factors – such as the consolidation of many agreements into larger ones – help to explain, but don’t fully account for, this downturn. The concern for unions is that they are struggling to prosecute collective agreements in workplaces where they have previously managed to organise and reach agreements. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115967/original/image-20160322-32285-1c9274v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115967/original/image-20160322-32285-1c9274v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115967/original/image-20160322-32285-1c9274v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115967/original/image-20160322-32285-1c9274v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115967/original/image-20160322-32285-1c9274v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115967/original/image-20160322-32285-1c9274v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115967/original/image-20160322-32285-1c9274v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Number of enterprise agreements, quarterly, December 1991 to September 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Department of Employment, Trends in Federal Enterprise Bargaining, 2015</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Confronted with these difficulties, unions are now pursuing different strategies to revitalise their prospects. Amid ongoing efforts at strategic repositioning, three recent developments warrant particular attention. </p>
<p>Union mergers are back on the agenda. Mergers involve two or more unions joining together as a single organisational entity. Australia saw a merger “wave” in the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1472-9296.00063/abstract">late 1980s and early 1990s</a>. Internationally, mergers have long been used as a <a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100976790">response to union decline</a>. Now, the <a href="http://www.mua.org.au/">Maritime Union of Australia</a> and the <a href="http://tcfua.org.au/">Textile Clothing and Footwear Union</a> are in negotiations to join the <a href="http://www.cfmeu.asn.au">Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union</a>, while the <a href="http://www.amwu.org.au/">Australian Manufacturing Workers Union</a> and <a href="http://www.unitedvoice.org.au/">United Voice</a> are also in merger talks.</p>
<p>Although a pooling of resources through merger promises greater clout, the empirical evidence of their impact on union performance <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2338.2012.00700.x/abstract">is mixed</a>, and suggests they are <a href="http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=14266&concordeid=21253">no panacea</a>. A recent discussion paper by <a href="http://percapita.org.au/research/the-urge-to-merge/">Per Capita</a> urges unions to proceed cautiously, and systematically assess the potential of further mergers to yield transformative results. </p>
<p>And the <a href="http://www.actu.org.au/">Australian Council of Trade Unions</a> is now pursuing a campaign strategy around a broader social agenda ahead of the forthcoming federal election. Reminiscent of the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2011.00878.x/abstract">Your Rights at Work campaign</a> that helped unseat the Howard government in 2007, the current Build a Better Future: Fight for Our Living Standards campaign focuses on local activism in marginal electorates supported by dedicated organisers, as well as online campaigning.</p>
<p>In the most recent Victorian and Queensland elections, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/victorian-state-election-how-labor-and-the-unions-blew-up-the-coalition-20141130-11x325.html">sophisticated grassroots campaigns</a> involving union volunteers helped deliver Labor governments. </p>
<p>Subsequently, unions in these states have tended to enjoy a more favourable local operating environment, through <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-industrial-relations-law-changes-pass-parliament-20150604-ghh7ir.html">restorative legal changes</a> or other <a href="http://economicdevelopment.vic.gov.au/about-us/strategies-and-initiatives/inquiry-into-the-labour-hire-industry-and-insecure-work">supportive policy initiatives</a>. While this type of approach has secured some political influence, there is no sign it has replenished membership stocks.</p>
<p>Unions are also <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/cdn.workplaceexpress.com.au/files/2016/10WaltonLocke.pdf">diversifying</a> their membership options. <a href="http://www.professionalsaustralia.org.au/">Professionals Australia</a>, and more recently the <a href="https://www.nuw.org.au/">National Union of Workers</a> and the <a href="https://www.meaa.org/">Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance</a>, have been early adopters of the “associate” membership option. This allows workers to join for a low fee but gives them limited voting rights. </p>
<p>The aim is to recruit a broader base of workers who are sympathetic to unions, but unconvinced of the value of full membership or are not in a workplace covered by a union agreement. The hope is these associates will, with time, upgrade to full membership.</p>
<p>It is clear that there is a growing appetite among unions to innovate with new ways of working, but the incremental changes may not be sufficient to generate the necessary turnaround.</p>
<p>Clues for more radical forms of innovation may lie in unlikely places. Like many businesses faced with “digital disruption”, unions need to rethink their business model. </p>
<p>Major companies have done so in a variety of ways – through experiments with new products or services which are quickly shut down if not successful, or scaled up if they <a href="https://hbr.org/2014/12/innovation-on-the-fly">turn out to work</a>. Some companies are <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/11/03/hard-for-spinoffs/">spinning off</a> parts of their business to become more nimble and focused, and in some cases <a href="https://hbr.org/2012/11/why-you-should-cannibalize-you/">cannibalising their own core business</a> in order to innovate. </p>
<p>Others have looked to <a href="https://hbr.org/product/community-powered-problem-solving/R1304D-PDF-ENG?referral=02749">customer-led innovation</a>. Lego is one of the more celebrated cases in which customer demands inform what products the <a href="https://ideas.lego.com/">company creates next</a>.</p>
<p>While there is no silver bullet, unions will need to accelerate the pace of innovation if they are to regain their influence in a rapidly changing world of work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Gahan receives funding from the Commonwealth Department of Employment and the University of Melbourne through the Centre for Workplace Ledareship</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Pekarek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With union membership at just 15% of the workforce and declining, trade unions are looking at new ways to build their membership bases.Andreas Pekarek, Lecturer in Management, The University of MelbournePeter Gahan, Professor of Management + Director, Centre for Workplace Leadership, Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/540512016-02-21T23:36:59Z2016-02-21T23:36:59ZBringing back building ‘watchdog’ helps a political agenda, but not concerns about union corruption<p>Battle lines are being drawn over the proposed re-establishment of the building industry “watchdog” the Australian Building and Construction Commission (the ABCC). It is shaping up as a possible trigger for a double dissolution election. </p>
<p>Legislation introduced to the Senate to bring back the controversial body has already been rejected once. If it is rejected in the same form again, when parliament sits next month, it would provide a second trigger for both houses of parliament to be dissolved. The deadline for a double dissolution is May 11.</p>
<p>The return of the ABCC was the government’s immediate response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption (commonly referred to as ‘TURC’), headed by Dyson Heydon. </p>
<p>On Wednesday, addressing the National Press Club, Treasurer Scott Morrison claimed this would be ‘an important economic reform’ and the ABCC’s earlier abolition had been ‘<a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/30845807/australia-cant-afford-no-abcc-morrison/">a productivity killer and job destroyer</a>’. </p>
<p>Recently, Workplace Relations Minister Michaelia Cash has <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-01/government-agrees-to-show-turc-findings-to-labor,-greens/7130520">linked the ABCC legislation to the TURC report</a>. </p>
<h2>Union governance</h2>
<p>While there is an obvious political agenda to link TURC and the ABCC, the policy link is not so clear.</p>
<p>The key issues to be dealt with as a result of TURC are about proper union governance. Members have a right to believe that their fees are being used, ultimately, to advance members’ interests. </p>
<p>These days, people are free to join or not join unions – they are not an agency of the state. So it is not appropriate for government to be deciding who runs unions or how they are run. But potential members need to have enough information to make informed decisions about their money and actions.</p>
<p>Whatever the merits of the TURC findings - and there is much dispute about them - the ABCC legislation does not principally address the issue of union governance. </p>
<h2>Productivity or militancy</h2>
<p>The ABCC’s original rationale, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4400735.htm">still repeated</a>, was to improve productivity. That rationale was subsequently <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=fb74c8ce-5257-4297-9108-800fef48f91e&subId=31985">discredited</a>, when it was found the original claims ($3 billion in productivity gains and rising) were based on spreadsheet errors. </p>
<p>It was established in 2005 by the Howard government, and abolished in 2012 under Prime Minister minister Julia Gillard. As Minister she had appointed a new, less confrontational head in 2010. The replacement body (the Fair Work Building and Construction Commission) retained several of its powers, albeit with greater safeguards for workers. </p>
<p>The impact of the ABCC legislation was to raise penalties for many existing breaches of industrial law (such as taking certain industrial action or affecting the right to belong or not belong to a union) and to create criminal sanctions for workers who wouldn’t attend secret hearings or answer questions or who spoke about the hearings afterwards. Ordinary workers in the building industry had no more rights than suspected terrorists. The new draft legislation would be very similar. </p>
<p>This legislation is mainly about combating worker militancy in the construction industry, and has little to do with union governance. </p>
<h2>Mission creep</h2>
<p>The Royal Commission dealt with unions in a number of industries, not just construction. </p>
<p>However, the ABCC legislation only applies, in theory, to one industry (though it has ramifications through the supply chain). Yet if the ABCC legislation is passed as if it were related to the TURC report, then in a short time the question will be asked: “why are we not passing the same legislation in other industries mentioned by the TURC report?” </p>
<p>The logic would be hard to resist. </p>
<p>After that, the question will be asked, “why are unions in other industries not subject to the same obligations as these unions?” </p>
<p>In a few years, ABCC-style legislation could apply throughout the workforce, with all workers potentially subject to those coercive powers and penalties. It’s what military strategists call “mission creep”.</p>
<p>Yet employers breaching industrial laws would be no worse off. For example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-franchises-care-more-about-their-coffee-than-their-people-46948">underpaying staff</a> is probably more costly for workers than malfeasance by union officials (there are <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/fels-panel-loses-confidence-in-7eleven--amid-claims-worker-beaten-20160205-gmmg7n.html">more than $25 million in claims against just one entity</a>). Misbehaving employers would probably be better off, in fact, because reduced union and worker power would make underpayment easier. Underpayments are so common among restaurateurs that when one is caught, the excuse they use is “<a href="http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/workplace/2016/01/19/popular-restaurant-chain-caught-in-underpayments-scandal/">everyone is doing it</a>”. The breaches found there seem to be the tip of an enormous iceberg.</p>
<p>Employers who fail to pay workers’ superannuation entitlements are to be <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-funds/employers-to-escape-penalty-on-super-non-payment-20150925-gjusry.html">treated more leniently</a>. Conflicts of interest in the <a href="http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/2/10/financial-services/swinging-pendulums-ir-and-financial-advice">financial advice industry</a> would be made legal if government legislation were passed. <a href="http://www.afr.com/personal-finance/superannuation-and-smsfs/senate-kills-super-governance-changes-20151201-gld2ey">Industry superannuation funds</a>, which consistently generate higher returns to members than bank-owned retail funds, would see their boards swamped by so-called independent representatives from the low-performing sector if other rejected legislation succeeded. </p>
<p>So if there are broad problems of illegality, poor governance and corruption, we need to look beyond unions to other groups in society, including <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-11/stuart-robert-confirms-2013-gift-of-valuable/7158708">politicians</a>, public servants and corporations.</p>
<h2>A considered examination</h2>
<p>Hence rather than rushing in to implement ABCC, we need a considered examination of each recommendation of TURC. </p>
<p>Considered, because some recommendations might deal legitimately with governance issues, while some (perhaps many) might just be an excuse for the executive to reduce workers’ power. </p>
<p>And if the ABCC became the benchmark, government would ultimately be able to harass trouble makers of any type, and jail workers who refuse to answer inquisitions about what happened in a meeting of restaurant staff, nurses, bank employees, or teachers’ aides.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54051/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>As a university employee, David Peetz has undertaken research over many years with occasional financial support from governments and government agencies in Australia and overseas from both sides of politics, as well as employers and unions. He has been involved in several Australian Research Council-funded and approved projects which included contributions from the employer body Universities Australia, the superannuation fund Unisuper, the National Tertiary Education Union and the Mining and Energy Division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. He has had no financial relationships with the construction divisions of either the relevant union, employer organisations or government agencies. Those funded projects do not concern the subject matter of this article.</span></em></p>The key issues from the Royal Commission into union activities were about governance, but these are not being addressed.David Peetz, Professor of Employment Relations, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/468112015-08-28T04:34:30Z2015-08-28T04:34:30ZVIDEO: Michelle Grattan on Dyson Heydon’s future<figure>
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<p>University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker and Michelle Grattan discuss the week in politics including Treasurer Joe Hockey’s problems, Dyson Heydon’s future as trade union royal commissioner and how Prime Minister Tony Abbott will use national security issues during next year’s election.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker and Michelle Grattan discuss the week in politics.Stephen Parker, Vice-Chancellor, University of CanberraMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.