The ACTU Congress of 1989

Abstract

When the biennial congress opened in the Sydney Town Hall on Monday, 25 September, only 100 affiliated unions were represented, as against the 142 that had attended the preceding congress.1 The number grew to 114 on the second day, and eventually reached 120; while a grand total of 815 delegates (934 in 1987) was officially recorded.2 The contrast with 1987 testified to the impact of the airline pilots' dispute that had crippled domestic air services since early August. But this dispute, despite its magnitude and the recurring references to it by congress speakers, was in fact ancillary to one of the two major themes that dominated the proceedings of the congress ?the fate of the Accord with the federal Labor government. The other theme was the fate of the trade union movement itself, as a representative body.