Industry Unions—Policy or Pipe Dream?

Abstract

It is often argued that the Australian industrial relations system would benefit, in various ways, by a reduction in the number of trade unions and that this can best be achieved by a process of union amalgamations. This paper discusses the relative merits of amalgamations which would lead to the creation of industry unions as opposed to amalgamations which would not. It is argued that only the former have the capacity to attract all the supposed benefits of union amal gamations. There is an examination of the nature of industry unionism and the need for a classification of Australian industry; some of the implications of industry unionism are discussed in an Australian context. The conclusion is that the formation of industry unions is important not only to Australian unions but also to Australian society; hence, the Federal Government may well be the only body capable of giving the necessary leadership for national union structural change.