The ACTU claims a surge in collective bargaining empowered by the Albanese government’s overhaul of industrial relations laws is behind the first growth in union membership after more than a decade of decline.

More than 1.6 million workers were members of a union in their main job as of August 2024, according to bi-annual Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Monday, an increase of almost 200,000 in the past two years.