Trade Unions - Employees

1. Trade Unions - Employees • Employees • Demand more challenging, interesting work, partaking indecision-making processes and autonomy at their workplace. • Structure of work has changed over the last decade and affects employees’ access to work. • - Older workers/women/younger/inexperienced struggle to obtain full time jobs. • - “Flexible, casual workforce” • Australia close to full employment for a long time, despite the GFC. • Labour shortages looming due to ageing population structure. Prospects for these groups are improving. • Extended the working age to 67 years; preventing employees from accessing pension or superannuation- discussed by media/politicians. • Unions responded to workers fears and have made employment issues; job security and limitation on the use of casuals – priority in negotiating agreements. Significant number of employees enjoy flexibility of job sharing, part time and casual work to manage family commitments. • Election of Rudd Labour Govt.(2007) – Australian Workplace Agreements were abolished (Work Choices) • Labor Governments Fair Work Act (2009) collective bargaining is encouraged – expected to reduce some of more unpopular tradeoff workers were forced to accept under work choices. • Trade Unions • Organisations formed by employees in an industry, trade or occupation to represent them in efforts to improve wages and the working conditions of there members. • System for resolving industrial disputes, established in 1904 in Australia, gave unions a powerful role in human resources. Provided unions with an official bargaining position in the making of industrial agreements. Through test cases, unions won major improvements in terms and conditions of unemployment. Established key principles that flowed on to other workers. • Unions are developing global union structures in order to counterbalance the power of global corporations and Globalisation of business. • ACTU – peak national trade union body. Acts on behalf of 90% of trade unionists.