Get Wise, Organise!

Bob Carnegie discusses the ACTU's new 'Unions@work' document

The slogan which heads this article was made famous by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the early part of this century. Its message is in dire need to be picked up by today's union movement, or the union movement's already rapid slide into obscurity will become an avalanche.

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary elect, Greg Combet has heralded a policy change with the recently announced unions@work strategy. This change in direction from what may be described as a service model, to a model, which places the task of organising workers into unions as a priority. This is belated recognition of the fact that for whatever reason workers are not only not joining unions but are leaving them in droves. The unions@work strategy came about after an ACTU delegation visited Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Canada and the United States where it is claimed trade unionists face similar difficulties as in this country. In its material the ACTU claims that the proportion of the workforce belonging to unions has fallen from 40% to 28% between 1990 and 1998. In the private sector, where the economy is in an expansionary phase union membership has plummeted to 21%.

To place the crisis in union membership in more concrete terms, for Australian unions to remain at their current poor level, 285,000 new members need to be recruited each year, currently only 210,000 new members are recruited each year. To achieve a growth of 1% i.e.: from 28% of the workforce currently organised into unions to 29% unions would have to increase recruitment to 420,000 new members per year.

The ACTU sees the problem of declining union membership as the rapid structural changes in the economy, the loss of jobs in the traditionally more highly unionised public sector and the inability of unions to recruit in the expanding service and information technology areas of the economy. The report goes on to state that unions must invest in growth and outlines four areas that unions should invest areas in. They are:

1. Strength in the workplace The ACTU cites examples of the importance placed on the delegate/ shop steward structure in most of the unions of the countries they visited. The report states Australian unions can: - Educate and activate delegates to recruit, bargain and handle grievances - Strengthen collective structures in the workplace - Establish delegates, activists and collective structures at every union workplace

2. Technology for the times The ACTU report considers that new technology can aid union growth, citing the Internet and e-mail as allowing faster and more effective communication between union representatives. The report in part states that Australian unions can: -Make sure that all delegates and activists are 'on-line' -modernise the delivery of union services through call centres

3. Growth in new areas The ACTU delegation claims that leading unions in Australia and overseas dedicate time and resources to organising and recruiting non-union members whilst at the same time looking after the existing membership base. It gives examples of the United States union movement where some 20% of resources are being channelled into organising. The delegation states that Australian Unions have a combined annual revenue base of $500 million of which an insufficient amount is being spent on organising. The report considers Australian unions can:
- Create an organising section in the union, with a coordinator and specialist organising teams
- Reallocate union resources to recruit and organise new members in workplaces and industries where jobs are growing
- Educate and involve delegates and activists in organising campaigns outside their workplace.

4. A strong union voice The ACTU believes that Australian unions need to get their messages across louder and more persuasive and for unions to utilise modern campaign and media methods. The report also states the importance of unions building alliances with community organisations.

The report considers Australian unions can:
- Develop modern, comprehensive campaign and pressure tactics
- Involve and recruit new members around contemporary employment issues
- Fight for decent wages and employment standards - a better wages system, and a safe, secure working life

The unions@work model which has come out of this report is still in its infancy, and whilst not wanting to sound like the arch conservative Winston Churchill and have the 'infant strangled in its cradle' I believe there are some major problems with its DNA make up. The unions@work model does not go close to being the radical reorganisation that the Australian union movement must undertake to remain a relevant and significant force in this country.

For if even a conservative report such as unions@work to have any chance of invigorating the union movement there will have to be a significant movement of power and resources from union hierarchies to delegate/shop stewards. The ACTU over the past 16 years has been at the forefront of increasing the bureaucratic structure and hierarchic nature of Australian trade unionism. I remember very clearly the words of a prominent union official: 'Comrade, officials are elected to run unions - not committees.' This fundamentally meant that the rank and file was to be kept away from their union structure.

The unions@work agenda also lacks the urgency that is needed in organising the unorganised. I have used the description of unorganised workers being like an avalanche. The phrase used through out the ACTU report in writing about this enormous decline in union membership is: 'Why unions haven't been growing'. For Christ's sake it sounds like Chamberlain after Munich and his 'Peace in our time' speech.

Unless unions are modern, open, democratic, fighting organisations genuinely committed to reinventing themselves the decline in membership will continue. This will not have an effect only on trade unionists but on the poor, students, the unemployed and all those who look to the trade union movement to be a voice for them.

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