The+Future+of+Unions

asAre unions still relevant in society of have they been made redundant by IR laws? Consider both sides of the issue from the viewpoint of a variety of stakeholders.

 =     The Future of Work      = The world of work has changed fundamentally in the past twenty years and is set to change even more radically. The notion of a job-for-life has been turned on its head. The workplace is now responsive to constantly changing global needs. Some of the changes that will have an impact upon traditional ideas about the labour force in Australia and worldwide are: This less structured work environment will require a range of flexible base skills that will be useful across industries. [|http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/career_development/programmes_funding/programme_categories/key_career_priorities/transition/future_work.htm
 * The workplace will be dominated by contractors rather than permanent employees
 * Working life will extend beyond the nine-to-five
 * A larger percentage of the population will be in paid work

While there are still people out there with jobs the unions still need to be around......although now adays employers are much better with there treatment of employees. [|http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/dator/unions/brightfut.html If they ever had any value (and perhaps they never did), it is gone in the brave new world of global, entrepreneurial capitalism. Unions will die a slow death. Or else, they should be killed off. They have no positive role to play in the free-spirited world of tomorrow.

Today unions aren't needed in the world! Employees can handle themselves.

The ACTU's chief, Greg Combet, has thrown his weight behind a controversial plan for new non-union work site councils to boost employee representation in companies with little or no union membership. He has decided to push ahead with the plan despite opposition from unions that claim the European-style "works councils" risk putting them out of business.

Figures released in April showed that union membership had fallen to 23 per cent of the workforce - but the most daunting statistic for unions is that the proportion is just 18 per cent in the private sector, where most people work. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/17/1061059717404.html?from=storyrhs The conventional wisdom currently says that unions are anachronistic holdovers from an earlier industrial era. If they ever had any value (and perhaps they never did), it is gone in the brave new world of global, entrepreneurial capitalism. Unions will die a slow death. Or else, they should be killed off. They have no positive role to play in the free-spirited world of tomorrow. Unions shoud be imporved in these arears so they are more relevant in our society. (i ) Union officials must narrow their focus of priorities towards enhancing the wages and conditions of their members at the workplace. This means that Local Governments, State Governments, Federal Governments, Committees and Institutes will have to do without the frequently inexpert advice that they have been receiving from union officials who must become pre-occupied with making a real difference for their members at the workplace. Placing the ACTU Secretary on the Board of the Reserve Bank may or may not benefit the workers that Unions are trying to attract and keep as members, but such accomplishments are far removed from the everyday focus of most workers. Unions are service providing organisations, and at the end of the day most workers will weigh up the cost of membership fees against the tangible benefits of membership. A change to annoying, frustrating or unsafe work practices or take home pay will generally score more points for the union than an ACTU brokered government commitment to "social wage" programmes. Such initiatives at the peak level have merit but with attention and resources shifted away from the workplace Union membership has suffered. Is it any wonder that where responsible employers have directed time and effort into workplace relations with employees, employees have seen no need to pay to be a member of a distant union (witness the goings-on at CRA) ? (ii) Similarly, Union structures must be overhauled to enable a general shift of the nexus of Union decision making from the boardrooms of ACTU House and State Labour Councils back towards the shop floor. I believe that smaller unions - because of the better communication that their closer proximity to their members allows for - are better able to identify with and serve the interests of their members than the larger "super-unions". These same employees that are being given more say in the running of the company that they work for, are simultaneously being shut out of Union policy-making. What hypocrisy the Unions' pleas for "industrial democracy" are exposed as. We also can't overlook the fact that amalgamations have been characterised by intra-union power struggles and in-fighting. What introverted and self consumed body can really expect to be adequately servicing - and hanging on to - its members? (iii) Unions must collect their own union dues. Nothing - but nothing - helps a body to develop an organisational structure like collecting its own money. This endeavour is fundamental in helping geographically diffused organisations such as unions to develop chains of command down and communication up between officials and members. There is no doubt that the act of collecting dues directly from members necessitates that officials maintain a real respect for the opinions of their members. This is the single most important step in revitalising Unionism. (iv) While the Labor Party always reviews its links to the Union Movement after an election defeat, I think that modern Unions really need to weigh up the value of continuing to affiliate with **any** political party. Most Unions do try to relate to some level of government and to push their industrial agenda, and this task is made all the more difficult when they are dealing with a government whose opposition they are married to. http://www.hrnicholls.com.au/nicholls/nichvo17/volxv006.htm In the past the union movement’s core supporters have been full-time, continuous workers, well committed to an industry, or, even a company. Few new workers will fit this mould. If Generation Y’s life patterns pan out as predicted, it will be at least a decade or more before many of them commit to the obligations that keep people in work whether they like it or not - namely a mortgage and children. For many, especially those who are well educated and confident, job insecurity doesn’t concern them greatly. If they’re unhappy with management or conditions, most won’t choose to join a union, mobilise other workers and fight for better conditions. They will turn on their heels and leave, maybe grumbling a little in their exit interview (if, in fact, they even do one). After all, who takes out insurance on a share house they’re renting? But this isn’t the end of the story. Generation Y, both men and women, takes the work-life balance seriously. Generation Y’ers talk about working smarter, not harder. They talk about working from home, moving away from the daily nine-to-five grind and working to live rather than the other way around. They don’t want to be absent, work-obsessed fathers or harried working mothers. They don’t want to be company slaves. http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3826

This is why people are not joining unions anymore. Since the level of employment is so hight at this present time, there is no need to fight for working contitions because it is just as easly to move elsewhere. In the future however, unions could become may be needed more because there wont be as many jobs as there are now.

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//"// //In 1987, fully 21% said that trade unions were doing a "terrible" job for the country as a whole, but that answer was given by only 8% in 1995. "No good at all" was the answer given by 12% in 1987 and 10% in 1995. "Not very good" was chosen by 32% in 1987 and in 1995. "Fairly good" was chosen by 29% in 1987, and drew more respondents, 43% in 1995. "Very good" drew 5% in 1987, 6% in 1995. and just 1% said that trade unions do an "excellent job" for the country as a whole in both 1987 and 1995. In summary, Australians have not come to embrace trade unions as public spirited organizations (the top ratings remain equally rare) but many fewer anathematize them as doing a "terrible" job (down by 13%)."//

(Quote about Australian statistics on the future of unions from http://www.international-survey.org/wwa_pub/articles/unions.htm) Many Australians are still skeptical about unions today. Unions do not hold as much power as they previously did. The future of unions also looks to be overpowed by the main government. Australian Socialist Party claim that bosses attack aggressive and politically outward unions. (http://www.socialistpartyaustralia.org/archives/2004/04/17/where-are-our-trade-unions-going/) Endless booms and slumps of Capitalism has driven down the living conditions for workers. Even minor 'boom's are not beneficial, capitalists are refusing to 'dish out the crumbs' as they did in the great boom of 1945 to 1974 when unions were at a stronger point in Australian society. These 'capitalists' can also be accused of 'doing anything they can to keep their profits high'. This ultimately means that unions will always have to battle against the main government and what is 'socially acceptable' for the country itself. England hs set the standard for this trend, unions such as the Fire Brigade Union broke from Labor withdrawing financial support from the UK Labor Party to expel them from the Party.

Today there are:

> > If you change my font to pink Scuba, I'll kill you. Old-fashioned! That is the main thing these guys want to get you to believe: that unions, or concerns about workers generally, are old-fashioned. To be with it, you have to forget workers and turn everyone into a self-centered, endlessly wheeling and dealing, private entrepreneur.
 * **Approximately 1.7 million Australians are union members, that’s about 19% of of the full-time workforce.**
 * ** There are more than 50 unions in Australia representing all different industries. **