Chapter 7
EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATION:
TRADE UNIONS
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7–1
Learning objectives
 Distinguish the different forms of employee
representation.
 Identify what unions ‘do’ both in the workplace and
beyond the workplace.
 Identify the different ‘shapes’ assumed by unions.
 Describe the typical governance structure of
Australian unions.
 Trace the historical development of Australian
unions.
 Analyse the various reasons why employees join
unions.
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7–2
Learning objectives
 Understand trends over time in union membership
in Australia, including the marked decline in union
membership since the 1970s.
 Understand the ways in which recent changes in
industrial relations regulation have affected unions
in Australia.
 Understand the contribution of women to unions as
well as their treatment by unions in Australia.
 Discuss the strategic responses of Australian
unions to their declining power.
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7–3
Overview
• Different forms of employee representation
• What unions do in the workplace and beyond
• Different union shapes
• Governance structure of unions
• Historical development of Australian unions
• Why employees join unions
• Explaining declining union density
• Recent changes in industrial relations
• Impact of female representation in unions
• Strategic responses to declining power
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7–4
Different forms of employee representation
• Voluntary
– Non-union: management-initiated consultation (e.g.
company unions, consultative committees).
– Union: informal collective bargaining with no compulsion
for employers to recognise or bargain with unions.
• State-sanctioned
– Statute-sponsored employee participation, e.g. works
councils, OH&S committees.
– Statute-sponsored collective bargaining, conciliation and
arbitration.
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7–5
What do unions do?
Definition of a trade union
a continuous association of wage earners for the
purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of
their employment
(Webb and Webb 1894, p. 1)
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7–6
What do unions do?
• Role and influence:
– Collective voice of employees at the workplace and
other levels
– Political/Social lobbyist
– Revolutionary role
– Criticised as being anti-market
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7–7
Different shapes assumed by unions
• There are three main aspects of union structure:
1. The shape of individual unions.
2. Internal governance structures within these individual
unions.
3. The external affiliations and alliances that individual
unions enter on a geographic or industry basis.
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7–8
The shape of unions
• The most common categorisation of unions is
according to their membership base:
1. Craft/Occupational unions
•
workers in the same craft or occupation but in
different industries
•
first type to emerge
2. Industry unions
•
workers in the same industry but doing different
crafts/work
•
public sector
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7–9
The shape of unions
• The most common categorisation of unions is
according to their membership base: (cont.)
3. Company/Enterprise unions
•
•
•
restrict membership to employees of one company
rare in English-speaking countries
common in Asia, especially Japan
4. General/Conglomerate unions
• allow anyone to join, regardless of job or industry
• AWU
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7–10
Internal governance structures
• Concerned with the processes by which decisions
about policy and actions are made within unions:
– usually formal mechanisms by which members participate
in union affairs
• Two common features of union structure:
1. usually four levels in the decision-making structure of a
union
2. distinction between ‘rank and file’ members and full-time
officials
• Union’s workplace tasks are often undertaken by
committees
– usually in multi-union worksites
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7–11
Internal governance structures
• Unions usually affiliate with larger bodies:
– labour councils
– ACTU
– AMA/other
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7–12
Historical development of Australian
unions
• Long history—unions in Australia for more than 150
years.
1800s–1890
• First mutual benefit societies formed by skilled artisans
• ‘Unions’ emerged from those societies
• Permanency achieved in 1850s
• Key unions formed
– mining
– maritime
– pastoral
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7–13
Historical development of Australian
unions
1890–1900
• Unions were in a strong position by the end of the
1880s.
• Depression and strikes between 1890 and 1894
destroyed trade unions.
• Australian Labor Party (ALP) was formed in the early
1890s.
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7–14
Historical development of Australian
unions
1900–1989
• Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904
• Unions prospered
– ‘right not might’ concept cemented in law
– grew rapidly in number and membership
• Emergence of Australian Council of Trade
Unions (ACTU) and state branches
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7–15
Historical development of Australian
unions
1990s–2000s
• Changing conditions:
– socially
– economically
– politically
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7–16
Australian union membership patterns
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7–17
Australian union membership patterns
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7–18
Why employees join unions
• Crouch 1982
– Dissatisfaction with economic aspects of the job.
– A desire to influence aspects of the work
environment through a union.
– Benefits of unionism outweigh costs.
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7–19
Why employees join unions
• Various reasons for union membership:
– ‘instrumental’ considerations
– ‘ideological’ beliefs
– ‘normative’ pressures
• Most Australians join because of instrumental
considerations.
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7–20
Why is union density declining?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Changing composition of employment
Economic factors
Changing popularity of unions
Role of management
Government policies
Union policies and structures
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7–21
Why is union density declining?
Changing composition of employment
• Growth in services sector
• Part-time, casual workers
• Self-employment
• Public-/Private-sector shifts
• Size of the workplace
• Young workers
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7–22
Why is union density declining?
Economic factors
Unemployment
• ACTU/ALP Accord reduced the influence of
individual unions and their members
• All workers received the same benefits whether or
not they were union members
– tax reductions
– guaranteed wage increases
– superannuation
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7–23
Why is union density declining?
Changing popularity of unions
Unions seen as being too powerful by some.
• Poor public image.
• Image of unions among members more
important than among community members.
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7–24
Why is union density declining?
Role of management
1. Polices aimed at replacing union role in the
workplace
– enhanced communications
– involvement in decision-making
– employee shareholding schemes
2. Strategies aimed at isolating unions
– restricting access to employees
– denying unions a role in setting wages and conditions
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7–25
Why is union density declining?
Role of management
3. Management tactics aimed at reducing union
membership
– additional incentives to employees
– greater level of formal internal communication channels
– job satisfaction
– individual contracts
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7–26
Why is union density declining?
Government policies
• Introduction of individual contracts.
• Prohibition of compulsory unionism and
preference to unionists.
• Reduced authority of arbitration tribunals.
• More difficult procedures for union rights of entry.
• New and increased penalties for industrial action.
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7–27
Why is union density declining?
Union policies and structures
• Union structures and policies may have
contributed to membership decline.
• Amalgamation exercise
– unions grew too big and became less democratic
• Accord may have alienated union members
– unions became mechanisms of government and allied
to employers
– showed up flaws in union structure
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7–28
Strategies for union renewal
Amalgamation and rationalisation
• History of amalgamation
– 300 unions merged into 17 broad industry groupings
– greater utilisation of resources
– 50 unions affiliated with ACTU in 2000
• Amalgamation strategy’s limited success
– has reduced number of unions and increased
efficiencies
– may have reduced union membership
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7–29
Strategies for union renewal
Recruitment of members
• Lack of a ‘recruitment culture’
• Emphasis on day-to-day matters rather than planning.
• Strategies for union renewal
– Organising Works program (1995)
– Unions@Work
– Future strategies: Unions for a fairer society
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7–30
Union models
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7–31
Strategies for union renewal
Recruitment of members
• Mixed results:
– failed to reverse the decline in union membership
– improved financial revenue for unions
– improved many unions that have an organising culture (but
not all)
– increased range of services offered by unions
• Most unions still concentrate their efforts on
grievance resolution (reactive) rather than
recruitment (pro-active).
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7–32
Strategies for union renewal
Peetz and Pocock (2009) suggest that, in some sectors
at least, we may be witnessing a ‘sea change’ in the
role of the union delegate in the unionised workplace.
They argue that:
our analysis of delegates in eight Australian unions suggests
that the role of delegates, at least in their perception, is
changing in many places, and that the orientation is to more
workplace activism (p. 647).
For those unions that have adopted a strategy that
involves the empowerment of union delegates, there
has, according to Peetz and Pocock (2009), been
associated growth in union power.
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7–33
Female representation in unions
• Why is the typical female employee less likely to be
unionised than the typical male employee?
– unions slow to recognise concerns of women
– women tend to be employed in workplaces that are
difficult to organise
– labour-market issues (concentrated in unskilled work)
– part-time/casual nature of work held by women
– under-represented in ACTU and in senior union roles
– child bearing and rearing duties
– perception of unions as not encouraging female
participation
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7–34
Female representation in unions
• Possible remedies to improve female
representation in unions
– Encourage more women to become officials
by:
• changing selection criteria to reflect reality
• changing meeting times
• introducing quotas for women
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7–35
Final observations
• Unions are important mechanisms for the articulation
and representation of employee interests
– structures and behaviours vary widely
• Australian trade unions were major beneficiaries of
the conciliation and arbitration system
– but limited workplace organisation
• Decline in union membership from 1980s onwards
– adoption of new strategies for recruitment and
organisation from 1990s
– unclear yet as to whether these strategies are working
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7–36
Summary
• Primary purpose of unions is to protect and improve the
wellbeing of members
– critics see unionism as unfair monopolies, preventing the
operation of the labour market
– supporters see unions as a corrective to power of employers
• Majority of union members used to be older males, but
females are now nearly equally represented
• Marked decline in union membership over recent years
owing to a number of factors. This is being addressed by:
– union amalgamations
– providing existing members with better services
– greater emphasis on recruitment
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