Union membership in crisis

July 23, 2007, 11:19am,  253 views

Making national news today is an ACTU admission that union membership in the private sector is in crisis. From The West Australian:

In an email widely circulated within the ACTU, assistant secretary Chris Walton urges his colleagues to concentrate on increasing union membership. “Private sector membership is at crisis levels of 15.2 per cent,” Mr Walton wrote.

“The ACTU must continue to drive the necessary changes and provide the necessary support to unions to achieve growth. There can be no greater priority.”

Membership levels, Mr Walton admitted, are only slightly stronger when the public service is counted.

The email also recommends the adoption of a permanent fighting fund levy. A levy was first introduced to raise money for the advertising campaign against the Federal Government’s controversial Work Choices laws.

I don’t think the revelations are actually new. They simply confirm that this year’s Federal Election is a watershed moment in industrial policy for this country.

A Labor loss would kill off the union movement in most sectors.