Research Essay Assignment: Resolving Conflict
WEEK 8 TRADE UNIONS
1) Discussion:
Organising Model and Union Revival
As we discussed in the lecture and is indicated in the key readings,
The Organising Model has been the main strategy pursued by Australian unions so as to halt the process of union decline and begin a process of revitalisation. Adopted as official policy of the Australian Council of Trade Unions in 1994, having been previously endorsed by United States unions. A vast body of research supported the Organising Model, which sought to increase rank-and-file member activism (see, David Peetz in particular re Australia). This research not only supported the Organising Model in principle, it also presented a number of case studies that showed successful implementation and results.
Given the considerable research support for the Organising Model, why do you think that the Organising Model has proved so ineffective in bringing about a union revival in Australia, union density having fallen from more than 30% when the Organising Model was adopted in 1994 to 14.5% in August 2016?
2) Discussion: Change the Rules
As we discussed in the lecture,
In 2018, Sally McManus – the Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) – voiced support for the ACTU’s Change the Rules campaign by saying: ‘Australian workers are ruled by laws which have destroyed job security and left us struggling to pay the bills.’ McManus and the ACTU argue that current problems will only be addressed by a change to industrial relations laws to allow greater levels of unionisation.
Are there merits to the arguments of McManus and the ACTU that declining levels of unionisation are associated with union hostile laws and that a change of law will bring about a revival of trade union support?
