The State of the Union.

A sea of red T-shirt clad school teachers waving flags and banners stating, "NO teachers, NO future," gather in their thousands outside the New South Wales State Parliament House.  A slogan is yelled out from a man standing with a megaphone. In time, the large crowd consisting of unionists, parents, and public members join in. “The teachers united will never be defeated; the teachers united will never be defeated.”

And they say that unionism is dead?

“It may not be dead, but if you look at Australia's trade union membership figures over the past forty years, you might think that the union movement is in crisis.” Says Professor Anthony Forsyth of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and author of “The Future of Unions and Worker Representation.” 

Have you ever wondered who brought about shorter working hours, equal pay for women, improved work safety, holiday payments, sick leave benefits, superannuation, and vocational training? That’s right, unions.

For years, unions have played an important role in Australian society. Through union campaigns, they have lobbied for government reform, raised living standards for workers, and advanced social justice issues.

So why are Australian workers not joining trade unions today?

Rita Mallia, president of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), NSW Construction and General Division, says there are many issues and reasons why Australian unions have decreased in membership.

 “Due to federal laws passed through parliament, only in Australia do unions have no right to take industrial action, no right to merit-based arbitration and no right to make non-members contribute towards collective bargaining with employers. There has never been a worse time for unions in Australia. Members are hanging on by their teeth!”

Contrary to popular belief, the Australian Liberal Party were not totally behind the push to get rid of unionised workforces during the 1990s and 2000s; the Federal Labor government installed legislative changes under the Hawke and Keating leadership that led to union chaos in the early 1990s. These new laws permitted single-employer agreements (enterprise bargaining) and non-union agreements. The resulting fragmentation of bargaining practices eroded the capacity of unions to negotiate enterprise agreements in different industries.

You can’t believe the fake data.

According to recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), union membership has hit a record low as fewer young people join. Only 14.3 per cent of the Australian workforce, or 1.5 million people, were members of a union in August 2020, down from 14.6 per cent the last time the Australian Bureau of Statistics ran the numbers in 2018. The figures also reveal that only 5 per cent of employees aged 15 to19 are in unions, rising to just 6 per cent for workers under 25. Oddly enough, 25 per cent of 60 to 64-year-olds were in unions.

“You can’t believe the ABS figures released in 2020. Those numbers are from the COE (Characteristics of Employment) survey. Our ACTU data is from 46 affiliated unions and clearly shows union membership has slightly grown if not stabilised at 1.8 million.” Says Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus.

“Even though there have been job losses over the last two years, almost every Australian union has grown its membership during the Covid pandemic,” the ACTU activist says.

“Australian trade unions are committed to growing membership now more than ever. During the past two years, we had unions fighting for Covid leave entitlements, unions fighting for Job Keeper payments, unions fighting for employee PPE (Personal Protection Equipment), and unions fighting to save jobs. Unfortunately, it has taken the Covid pandemic for workers to see how important unions are.”

The rise and rise of unionism in Scandinavia.

Despite the general decline of trade unions in Australia and throughout the western world, unions in Scandinavian countries like Denmark, Norway and Sweden have prospered.

In 2020, the number of card-carrying trade union members in blue and white-collar work amounted to 52% in Norway, 65% in Finland, 92% in Iceland, 66% in Sweden, and 67% in Denmark.

So why do these Scandinavian countries generally have four to five times more union members than Australia?

RMIT’s Anthony Forsyth believes a social framework of mutual respect, equity, and compromise helped trade unions thrive in Scandinavian countries.

“Trade unions play a more important role in Scandinavian politics and economics than in most other countries. This is largely a result of their organisational success, which has made them key players in policymaking and employment collective bargaining.” Says the professor in business and labour law.

The Scandinavian model combines economic efficiency with social benefits for all workers. This allows employers and employees to find solutions and adapt to the varying circumstances of individual companies and industries.

“In Australia, politicians and companies regulate the work conditions by federal laws. In counties like Sweden, union density helps to warrant worker conditions and agreements that meet the interests of all the workers as far as possible.” Explains Professor Forsyth.

In Scandinavia, employment issues like wages, terms and conditions of employment are determined for most workers through a single national framework agreement negotiated by a national trade union federation and the national employer’s federation. This “Co-determinatsion” or direct union influence on corporate decision-making is an integral part of company life in these countries.

The CFMEU’s Rita Mallia says that although there are examples in Australian organised workplaces of consultative committees that mirror Scandinavian models, more companies need to shake up the corporate structure. “It’s a great idea, but unfortunately, I cannot see this being taken up in the construction industry as work is very itinerant for individual workers. The construction companies that employ most of the labour are basically small privately-owned entities.”

 Studies on Scandinavian trade unions show they contribute positively to the development of society. It is, therefore, no coincidence that these countries have the highest prosperity, the highest competitiveness, and the best functioning democracy. Union cooperation with employers and politics has led to a labour market characterised by fewer strikes, low inflation, relatively low unemployment, and steady increases in real income for almost every person in the country.

Power in numbers.

Another reason trade unions are so strong in Scandinavian countries is because they are centrally organised through a central organisation or confederation. For example, in Norway, there are four such confederations. The largest is, The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions or LO.  This confederation has employee associations with 22 trade unions like, the Commerce and Office Employees Union, Electrician and IT Workers Union, and the Industry Energy Union, to name a few.

 So, is amalgamation the answer to maintaining trade union membership numbers and better living standards in Australia?  Journalist and author of “It’s Only a Job” Phil Thornton says no. “Some unionists say that bigger is better and that amalgamation is great. Politicians argue it will lead to more powerful and militant unions. But in my opinion, both arguments are wrong. Amalgamation would offer an opportunity for union transformation, but they are complex and not easily achieved.”

 Thornton explains that union membership and financial difficulties, overlapping jurisdictions, the need to increase bargaining power, employer re-organisation and protection against membership raiding from other unions have all been cited as motivational forces behind amalgamations. But other union members and officials fear that a loss of power and craft identity can create problems for larger unions merging with smaller unions.

What the unions need now are more women leaders.

The one positive change with unions worldwide is women. Women in the workforce are more likely to be union members than men. In Australia, there has been a rise to almost 16 per cent of all female employees who are union members, while men union membership numbers have dropped to 12.7 per cent.

Scandinavian and Australian trade unions have actively pursued the equal representation of women and men within all elected positions as union leaders. In 2018, eight had female majorities in the ten most prominent Swedish blue-collar and white-collar unions, with six led by women leaders.

 With unemployment among women at a 20-year high in Australia, a new wave of female union leaders and activists advocating on new and old fronts for economic and social justice for women, the halting of gender-based violence and harassment and equitable development have come to the forefront.

 “Today, the average trade unionist is a young, degree-educated, white woman working within white-collar professions.” Explains Professor Fiona Probyn-Rapsey, President of the University National Tertiary Education Union Sub-Branch at the University of Wollongong. “Women have become vital to the survival of unions. For decades Australian trade unions did not serve women well. Men exclusively conducted strikes and negotiations. These days, women are breathing new life into the Australian union movement.”

Former CFMEU boss Andrew Ferguson has the final word on the direction of the Australian union movement and its future. “The reason union membership has declined is because of the destruction of regular work. It’s in decline worldwide. The union movement has faced challenges from, a harsh legislative environment, a Liberal government hell-bent on removing union influence from the workplace and unions themselves needing urgent internal restructuring. There is a future for trade unions. Don’t ride them off just yet.”