[PEN-L:2383] Re: Australian trade unions

[pcolley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Peter Colley / Cathie Sherrington)]

It's good to hear Bill state that he is supportive of trade unions in
public forums.  I find PEN-L to be quite a public forum but perhaps that's
my miconception.

Rather than debate Bill point by point on PEN-L and bore the pants off
people I'll take up the issue directly with Bill if I get the time.

However, it would be appreciated if sweeping statements condemning all
trade unions worldwide could be avoided.  Not all trade union movements are
declining worldwide.  Data from the most recent issue of "International
Union Rights" magazine says union density is increasing or stable in six
European nations plus Canada.  And neither are they all (or, in my view,
many) in cahoots with business and government.  According to my data from
the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 528 unionists were
murdered for union activities in 1994, over 4,000 were arrested and
detained, and some 66,000 dismissed.  In all cases only activity related to
campaigns for freedom of association and the right to collectively bargain
were studied.  Interestingly, the Australian States of Victoria and Western
Australian are cited for their legislative reforms encouraging individual
contracts and minimising collective bargaining rights. (By the way, nothing
in Oz federal industrial legislation recognises or encourages individual
contracts, and no post-war federal industrial legislation has.  The concept
of individual contracts does not exist in the Act.  But they aren't
proscribed by the Act and never have been.  This is what CRA Ltd has
exploited at Weipa and elsewhere.)

With regard to union membership rates in Oz., Bill's data is (perhaps
inadvertently) misleading.  I think he is taking data on absolute union
membership numbers and turning that into a proportion of the workforce
using other data on workforce size.

The definitive Australian Bureau of Statistics data on trade union
membership is the labour force survey data.  Its latest data (August '94
survey - 95 data not yet released) says 35% (rather than 30%) of Australian
workers are union members.  Still not good news but let's not write of 5%
of the workforce in a hurry.

I would also like to defend something I don't work for: Oz green groups.
Last time I looked, all staff at the Wilderness Society received the same
pay of something under A$30,000 (US$22,500), whilst 3 years ago, the
Executive Director of Greenpeace Australia was paid A$45,000 plus a
bicycle.  Hardly the stuff of "swish suits" which seems to be one of Bill's
favourite criticisms.

I do agree with one thing Bill said.  Trade unions pay lousy money for
consultancies and do expect the earth! Most treat their employees the same
way. After all, you're working for "the cause"!

Peter Colley
Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union
Sydney, Australia