Business 4498: Assessing the Relevance of Trade Unions in Australia

This essay critically examines the diminishing relevance of trade unions in the Australian labour market. It explores the historical context of union formation and growth, highlighting early challenges and the impact of economic downturns on membership. The discussion delves into the decline in union density, particularly among men and women, attributing it to factors such as part-time employment, competition, and changes in industrial laws. The essay references statistical data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to illustrate the downward trend in union membership over the past four decades, noting a significant decrease in the number of union members. Furthermore, it analyzes the role of privatization, deregulation, and modifications to industrial laws in affecting trade unions. The essay concludes by emphasizing the structural factors impacting employment and the increased utilization of flexible employment forms as key drivers of the decline, while also acknowledging the efforts of some unions to maintain or increase membership despite these challenges.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
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Topic- Trade unions have lost their relevance in the Australian labour market (Agree)
Introduction
The trade unions are termed as the association of the workers forming the legal unit or
the legal personhood which is known as the bargaining unit and legal representative for the
unit of the different employees in the different matters of law or in the administration of the
collective kind of agreement. As commented by Wright et al. (2016), there are three major
principles of trade unions that includes negotiating of wages as well as working condition
terms. Furthermore, the trade unions help in regulating proper relations between workers as
well as employers and enforcing the terms of collective bargaining. The main aim and
purpose of the essay is to understand and identify the factors which has led to the loss of
relevance of the trade unions in the Australian labour market.
Discussion
As commented by Pulignano, Meardi and Doerflinger (2015), the first Australian
unions were mainly formed by the different free workers in Hobart along with Sydney in late
1820s. However, the entire spreading of the unions was done in the late 1830s and between
the years 1850 as well as 1869, there were more than 400 unions that were formed. As opined
by O’Sullivan et al. (2015), most of the trade unions were formed for assisting the different
members at the time of illness, unemployment or death. However, according to Murray
(2017), most of the early unions were short-lived in nature and it affected their growth in a
negative manner. However, from the year 1870s, the different women became an active part
in the trade unions movement and they often formed separate unions.
On the contrary, as commented by Marino (2015), during the 1890s, it challenged the
overall growth and growing related strength of the Australian labour unions negatively. As
opined by Lechner (2016), it was being seen that there was a drastic fall in membership

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which was due to the economic kind of depression along with union defeat following the
various kinds of strikes. Due to the same, many of the recently formed and small formed
unions collapsed and it affected the overall growth prospects of the trade unions negatively as
well. From different incidents, it can be made clear that the trade unions in Australian
economy are in much weaker position than they were during the accord years (Holgate 2015).
With low kind of density, it can be seen that the Australian unions are in limited position for
countering causes related to the declining power of workers as well as the inequality which
have been caused among the workers. Due to decline in the unionisation in Australia, it has
been leading to the decreasing kind of prevalence in the union membership and due to the
same, it has affected many men and women negatively who were involved in the process and
it impacted their growth-related prospects in a negative manner.
From the different data which have been generated from ABS, it can be made clear
that the density of union members specifically, who are men have declined and fallen from
43% in 1992 to 13% in the year 2016. On the other hand, the decline in the density of the
women union members have fallen from 35% to 16%. The slight higher kind of proportion of
the different female union members is due to the concentration in the industries which is
partly in nature and the occupations are likely to be unionized such as teaching or nursing. As
commented by Holgate (2015), there has been huge increase in the part time employment in
the Australian economy that has led to the decline in the union membership and it affects the
growth prospects of the company in a negative manner and it helps in prohibiting the
compulsory kind of unionisation which were enacted by the state government.
As commented by Hodder and Edwards (2015), the high level of competition for rents
had generated spiral of unemployment as well as inflation that had promoted Accord as the
solution. In the current scenario, there is extraction of rents as well, however these are done
with the help of the different kinds of groups such as extremely high-income earners,

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directors of the different large firms as well as some of the financiers. From the analysis of
the different statistics, it has been noticed that union membership in the Australian economy
is falling in a steady manner over the last four decades. There were just 1.5 million union
members left in the year 2016 in comparison to the year 1976 wherein the number of union
members were above 2.5 million. It helps in representing the fact that there is high level of
decline of around 1 million union members or more than 38% to be more precise (Hennekam
and Bennett 2017).
As commented by Gorodzeisky and Richards (2016), it can be seen that if the unions
of Australia were part of solution, then the decline and the different problems they faced
while arresting, that can decline now mainly constitute to the part of the problem and their
situation is considered to be the main barrier for readdressing the growth in inequality. The
increase in the inequality in several places in Australian economy, it has been linked to the
part of decline in the union in an easy manner. Due to the same, it reduced their work in the
government related proceedings and it affected their prospects related to growth negatively
that led to lack of ineffectiveness in the different tasks which were performed by them.
Additionally, as commented by Caraway, Ford and Nugroho (2015), the different kinds of
changes in the union density of United States closely tracked the various changes in share of
top one percentage, however the relationship is less striking in nature for Canada or Australia
related economy.
In addition, as commented by Abubakar (2015), the different unions in the Australian
economy faced increased kind of challenges as there was a progress in the 20th century. From
1980s onwards, it has been noticed that there has been huge increase in the effects of
privatization, deregulation along with modification of the industrial laws that affected the rise
in the tasks performed by the trade unions negatively. From the different statistics and news,
it has been seen that Australian Labour Party National President Mark Butler commented that

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it is high time for addressing deep crisis which are faced by the trade unions as the movement
is reaching at a fast pace to the tipping point wherein it can cease for existing as the board-
based institutional kind of player in Australian economy.
Moreover, as commented by Gorodzeisky and Richards (2016), the overall collapse of
the compulsory unionism or the closed kind of shops in the Australian economy during the
year 1980s and 1990s was the other main reason of the downfall of the union members and it
was affecting their group negatively. Under the Workplace Relations Act 1996, the
preferences of the different union members and the compulsory unionism was made illegal
for employees who are covered under the federal system as well as the for the ones outside,
but within the reach of other Commonwealth powers. In addition, as commented by
Hennekam and Bennett (2017), the strong kind of growth in the employment in service
related industries have shown the fact that the decline in the unionism have been prevalent in
the present scenario and due to the same, it had led to lack of the union members in the
Australian economy and it has affected the effectiveness of the economy in a positive manner
to certain extent.
Conclusion
From the overall analysis of the aspects of the union membership in the Australian
economy, it can be concluded that there is a gradual decline across the economy of Australia
over the last few decades. The main reason which can be seen is due to the result of the
various kinds of structural factors which have been affecting the employment in different
kinds of industries in a negative manner. The increased kind of utilisation of the more flexible
forms of employment is the other aspect that led to decline in the trade unions in Australian
economy which affected the percentage of the union membership largely.

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However, on the contrary, it can be seen that number of unions have been able to
manage to either preserve or increase the membership despite such kind of challenges which
were faced by them, which includes the ones particularly in the health care along with social
education, assistance as well as protective kind of services. In addition, it can be analyzed
that decline in the union membership has become a common kind of characteristic in the
different industrialized OECD countries. The appropriate level of the union type of
membership in Australian economy could continue to face various other challenges in the
near future as more employment which are flexible in nature have been introduced and due to
the same, it will be making it more prevalent in the future years which will be leading to the
decline in the trade unions drastically and it can affect negatively the membership to a large
extent.

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