Unions shed 140,000 members in 12 months, stats show

NEW figures have shown that Australians are ditching trade union membership in droves. But are the numbers correct?

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A BATTLE has erupted over official figures that show a dramatic fall in Australia’s trade union membership and influence.

Just 15 per cent of the Australian workforce was unionised in August last year, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

That’s down from 17 per cent in August 213, and shows union membership falling from 1.74 million workers to 1.6 million — a loss of 140,000 members in 12 months.

Just 11 per cent of the private workforce was on trade unions rolls.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions challenged the findings and countered with its own records showing little change over 12 months, but senior union officials are worried.

The ABS figures indicate a continued collapse in the industrial force of the unions, and in their political influence. In 1992, about 40 per cent of the workforce was unionised.

The closure of major manufacturing sectors including car making, high unemployment, and the changes in workplaces and career patterns caused by new technologies have contributed to the reduction.

But the figures are a warning to the Labor Party that its prominent links to the union movement are contrary to the real-life priorities of the electorate, with thousands of voters shedding their personal trade union ties.

The fall in union membership is bad news for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

This is a particular warning to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, whose career before Parliament was as a senior official in the Australian Workers’ Union.

The ACTU immediately contested the ABS findings, saying they did not match its own collation of membership data from 46 affiliated unions.

The ACTU said that this month union membership stood at 1.8 million — compared to the 1.6 million the ABS recorded in August last year — and there had not been a significant change in the previous 12 months.

But the umbrella group agreed with the ABS that union members earned higher wages than non-members.

“Every day, unions are looking for ways to represent Australian workers and it has become very clear that as workplaces modernise so must unions,” ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said in a statement.

“That’s why next month union leaders will be gathering for the Australia Disrupted Symposium to discuss the future of work and how we can best represent workers no matter who they are or how they work.

“Progress and change in the workplace can be a great thing but it can’t be at the cost of workers’ rights, wages, safety and other conditions.”

About 62 per cent of voters believe trades unions are important to working people, according to an Essential Media survey released today.

But just 45 per cent believed they would be better of if unions were stronger.

And 42 per cent believed the royal commission into trade union corruption was a legitimate inquiry into union matters, and just 27 per cent agreed with Labor it was a political attack.