Changing Roles and Strategies of Australian Trade Union

This paper analyzes the changing roles and strategies of Australian Trade Union from 1980 to the present time, and compares labor union practices of Australia with that of India. It discusses the evolution of strategies, policies, and environment of the Australian Trade Unions, as well as the contrast between employee relation acts, regulations, and policies in India and Australia.

Running head: AUSTRALIAN TRADE UNION
AUSTRALIAN TRADE UNION
Name of the student
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Author Note

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The respective paper is an analysis and a comparison between the changing roles and
strategies of Australian Trade Union from 1980 to the present time. The paper would also focus
the differences between labor union practices of Australia with that of India. To build the essay,
an extensive research has to be done with proper analytical skills and interpretation to bring out
the requisite answer. The labor policies of Australia and India has been highly scrutinized and
studied in order to frame the contrasts and differences in the paper.
It is evident that Australian Trade Unions have played a big role in shaping the position
of the proletariats and the working classes of Australia. The Australian Council of Trade Unions
is a member of the international platform of International Trade Union Confederation (Linden,
2017). The objectives and the aims of Australian Council of Trade Unions revolves around
seeking for socialization of industries and utilizing Australian resources for generating full and
secured employment, build an equitable standard of work by providing equal opportunities to all
workers, irrespective of class, race and gender for the development and enhancement of their
talent ( Linden, 2017). However, there is a rich and prolific history of Australia’s labor union in
addressing the troubles and drawbacks of the nation regarding its treatment with the proletariat,
working classes and the employees of the nation.
Comparison of the strategies of Australian Trade Union (1980 to the present)
From the year 1980 to the present time, Australian Trade Union has been largely
revisited, modified and updated according to the economic, political, socio-economic and socio-
political situations of the nation. It has to be understood that, economic upheaval and structural
changes in economy was the most customary and primary reason for the changes in the labor
unions of Australia (Ellem, 2013). By the year 1980-1981, the white collar job holders of

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Australia had entered into the trade unions and other organizations that traditionally relentlessly
worked for the proletariats, the blue collar job holders and the working classes of Australia.
However, such drastic change in the population composition of Australia’s Trade Union might
have been caused due to the white collar militancy and market profits in working conditions. In
1981, the white collar job holders were composed of approximately 48% of all the members of
the unions or unionists, which was earlier only 28% in 1969. However, an important
characteristic can be traced in the evolution of strategies, policies and environment of the
Australian Trade Unions in the beginning of 1980s; the workforce and the Australian Union
movement was observed to be becoming more feminized with a subsequent increase in number
of women in their demography. The representation of women in the Union movements,
organizations and activities marked the freedom, growth and development of Australian women
workers since the year 1980 (Curtin, 2018). By the year 1980 in Australia, most of the
breadwinners and the earners of the families were the women which is a reflection of the
development and progression of the Australian society which enabled women to be financially
independent and economically strong similar to men. The strategies that the Australian labor
union took that enabled the women to win the seat of the union as new members were white
collar job holders. The Australian Trade Union appointed every one woman for all four men at
the designation of Federated Clerks of the Union. The representation of women in the Australian
Labor Union was indeed a progressive action taken by the Australian labor forces as the women
representatives were the ones who best understood and comprehended the problems faced by the
women laborers, workers and proletariats (Ledwith, 2012). The women workers of Australia had
faced certain obnoxious issues throughout generation which included inhuman conditions of
work, sexual and physical harassment in the workplaces, and low wage in spite of working

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overtime, overexploitation because of their gender where they were denied certain legitimate
rights which other men workers and laborers enjoyed. The women workers of Australia,
especially the aboriginal women workers were highly underrepresented and undermined in
workplaces. The rise of feminism in Australian labor movements helped the women of the nation
to meet their troubles and struggles to a certain extent. 1979-80: The year 1979 saw a drastic yet
optimistic change in position of women workers and proletariats in the history of Australia’s
labor movements and union. In the year 1979, unpaid Maternity leave for twelve months for the
female workers were issued and granted by the Federal Arbitration Commission of Australia.
The female employees of Australia who were appointed for a long-term employment basis were
entitled to fifty two weeks of maternity leave which was unpaid. However, the Maternity Leave
Act, 1973 earlier had provided the female workers with twelve weeks of paid leave. Such step
was a relatively progressive initiative from the part of Australian Trade Unions which ensured
balance between professional as well as family life of the workers irrespective of how significant
or trivial their position in the industries were. In the year 1990, at International Labor
Organization’s 1981 Convention 156, the Australian government declared their new policy of
meeting the demands of “workers with family responsibilities” where the nation addressed the
problems workers faced while conjuring their work life with that of their family responsibilities
and duties, ensuring that the men and the women workers should be employed in sectors to the
extent possible where there will be less conflict between their employment and family duties and
responsibilities. In the recent 1998, the government of New South Wales, after prolonged
movement of the Australian labor Unions and their activities, framed, organized and produced
two manuals or brochures that stated “parental leave” which was entitled to the brochure
“Maternity at Work” and “Maternity leave: its your right” which clearly stated that only the

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mother is entitled to take maternity leave from her workplace and it was her fundamental right to
do so for the customary well being of the baby or the issue (Mahon & Brennan, 2012). It was, at
that time, conventionally considered that it was the primary and customary duty of the woman or
the mother to take care of her children and infants at the basic primary level, therefore, it was the
moral responsibility of the workplaces to provide them with leaves and sabbaticals. However,
with the growing global complexities and changed interdependence between men and women
and relationships in Australia, the Australian labor union has also considered the role of the
father in the upbringing of the infants, therefore, the men workers with new born children were
also allowed parental leave from the Australian organizations, for instance, Dad and Partner Pay,
which was loosely based on the recommendation of Productivity Commission Enquiry Report
that enabled the new fathers unpaid leaves for at least 2 weeks and should only be devoted
towards the care giving of the child without engaging themselves into any other work during the
leave period (Mahon & Brennan, 2012). Such step can be called progressive in nature where the
Australian government provides equal share of responsibilities to both men and women, apart
from women who gave labor for both paid work (at workplace) and unpaid work (domiciliary
duties at home, rearing of children), thus, ensuring gender neutrality and equality in the
Australian working class society (Broomhill & Sharp, 2012). With the increase of immigrants in
Australia, by the time 1988, the nation saw that more than half of the Australian population were
either immigrants or were Asia born. However, though Australian Labor Union was optimized
highly for the White Australia Policy, the union movements volunteered the endorsement of
post-war immigration. Higher employment opportunity and growth with award system and
protection of their jobs were the reasons for the integration of immigrant workers in the
Australian Labor Union.

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However, with the increase of industrial reforms, the unionism concept in Australia’s workplace
decreased drastically. However, with the “Fair work Act” of 2009, a new industrial relations
schedule came into being. The unionism in Australia came into being once again, however, again
a sharp drop of unionism could be observed during the federal Gillard government in 2010. In
the areas such as Queensland and New South Wales, the strategies and frameworks of schemes
taken up by the Australian government was not effective therefore, the unpopular Labor
government faced eviction in every workplace (Kirk, 2017). Therefore, it can be concluded that
the Australian labor union should rethink, revisit and reshape their strategies to meet the
demands of the labor class of Australia in the global imperialistic era to ensure socialist
environment within the organizations and welfare of the workers.
Employee Relation Acts, Regulations and Polices of India and Australia: A
Contrast
Employee Relation Acts: In India, the Industries Disputes Act, 1947 states that a man who
is employed in an industry to do any kind of labor, manual, skilled, unskilled, technical or
supervisory work, can be termed as a “workman” whose wage does not exceed Rs. 10,000. The
Factories Act, 1948 is a legislation that protects and ensures safety and security to all types of
workers of India which includes workman, government employees and private sector employees
and employees of organized and unorganized sector (Gayathri & Karthikeyan, 2013). Whereas in
Australia, Employee law generally protect who works on the basis of contract of service rather
than contract for service. Under the Fair Work Act, that provides some protection to the
independent contractors, distinguishes between permanent or temporary employees in providing
their provisions. To enjoy benefits, according to Fair Work Act, the casual employees have to be

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genuinely continuous casual employees (Macdonald & Charlesworth, 2013). The act provides
aids to the continuous requirements as well as long term aids to the long term casual workers
according to their requirements and needs.
Employment regulations and policies The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995,
according to the constitution of India, provides strict rules against all form of discrimination that
can be faced by the differently able employees in the workplace at the time of hiring,
recruitment, placement, promotions. The Act ensures safety, security and integrity of the
disabled, impaired or differently able candidates or workers within as well as outside the
workplace which includes equal opportunities, Protection of their basic rights and privileges
inside the organization as well as their full participation in the organizational activities and being
an integral part of the organization (Khaitan, 2015). The Employment Regulations Act of India
has been provided and enacted to eliminate all kinds of gender biasness or discrimination within
the organization, which includes sexual offences such as sexual explicitness and asking for
sexual favors to the women employees by the others inside the organization (Kapur, 2013). The
Employment Regulations Act of India also ensures that men and women are paid equal wages
and salaries based on their merits, skills and output and not to be discriminated financially on the
grounds of gender and other fallacious issues. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 and Sexual
Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 has been
enacted to ensure and safeguard the basic and fundamental rights of the female employees in
India (Shastri, 2014). However, there has been cases of discrimination of the employees in the
workplaces under the factors such as caste, creed and race in India’s private as well as public
sectors which has been addressed by Employment Regulation Acts. Whereas, in Australia, under
the Fair Work Act, the employees are protected from discrimination on the grounds of race,

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color, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical and mental disabilities, marital status, family,
pregnancy, religion, political views, nationality and ethnicity (Harpur, French & Bales, 2012).
The Fair Work Act ensures redressal of direct as well as indirect discrimination of the employees
or workers within the organization (Macdonald & Charlesworth, 2013). The Fair Work
Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017 ensures protection of vulnerable workers
(economically, socially, socio-economically vulnerable) by establishing strong penalties for the
employers who commit serious offences against them, such as misbehavior, maladministration or
ambiguous termination of the employees without any proper reason (Cameron, 2013). All
employees of Australia are entitled to maternity rights under the National Employment Standards
with 12 months of unpaid parental leave including two weeks paid leave of the fathers as well.
The respective paper concludes to be a summary of contrast and comparison of the
changing roles and strategies of Australian Trade Union from 1980 to the present time. The
paper is also a comparison of the employment regulation acts, regulations and policies of
Australia with that of one another arbitrary country, in this case, India, where the different acts
and provisions for the employees of India and Australia are noted, summarized and compared.

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