AWU pushes to increase fees

The AWU wants to hike fees paid by higher-earning members after an “alarming” fall in membership.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton. Picture: AAP

Bill Shorten’s former union, the Australian Workers’ Union, is pushing to increase fees paid by higher-earning members in a bid to combat an “alarming” fall in membership over a five-year period.

Delegates at the AWU national conference on the Gold Coast are being asked to back a new membership fee model replacing the existing flat structure that sees all members pay $12 a week irrespective of their income.

An internal audit forced on the union by the Registered Organisations Commission following concerns about exaggerated membership numbers confirmed total membership in December 2017 was 69,786 — a 50 per cent drop compared with the peak of 139,329 declared in the AWU’s 2012 financial report.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton told delegates the union’s membership had been “dropping alarmingly for half a decade”, overseen by outdated and cumbersome data systems based on a 132-year model.

“It was a model that had done extraordinary miles, but it was in desperate need of repair,’’ he said. “Our current fee structure is as old as our union. One way or another we need reform.”

He said the existing fee structure did a poor job at reflecting the union’s values.

“We are built on the belief that when the strong help those who need it, the whole collective grows stronger,’’ he said.

“Therefore when it comes to member dues those who stand strongest should help a little more. Based on our research, I think a progressive fee structure would be seen as fair by our union.”

Mr Walton said the union’s membership had grown by 2000 members in the past 12 months.

“After a long and difficult road of booking membership losses year after year, I am pleased to say not only have we stopped the bleeding, we have turned things around and we are now growing,’’ he said.

Mr Walton also used his speech to renew the union’s call for worker representation to be mandated on every major private sector board.

The ALP national conference in December gave broad in principle support for the concept but did not support mandatory union representation. It said “Labor will examine measures that increase collaboration between employers and workers, including worker representation on boards”.