Australian Council of Trade Unions
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The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) the largest peak national body representing workers in Australia. It is a council of 46 affiliated unions representing about 1.8 million workers. The ACTU can be the most visible aspect of the Australian labour movement.
The ACTU was formed in 1927 as the "Australiasian Council of Trade Unions". It was one of the earliest attempts by trade unions to apply the principles of One Big Union earlier explored by more radical syndicalist unions like the CNT or revolutionary industrial unions like the IWW.
In the Australian case, agitation for One Big Union occured from 1911 from the revolutionary Australian section of the IWW and from the pro-arbitration Australian Workers Union (AWU). At that time the AWU was the largest single Australian union. In 1918 after the destruction of the Australian IWW a group of militant trade unions (who opposed to the AWU) attempted to form One Big Union under the name Workers Industrial Union of Australia (WIUA). The hostility between the WIUA and the AWU prevented the formation of One Big Union in Australia. It was the impetus of a conservative Federal government in 1927 which impelled the Australian trade unions to form a national council.
The ACTU's Australian trade union "peak body" precursors include state labour councils like the Victorian Trades Hall Council (originating in 1856 as the 'Melbourne Trades Hall Committee'), the Labor Council of New South Wales (originally formed in 1870 as the 'Sydney Trades and Labor Council') and the Inter-Colonial Trade Union Congress (formed in 1879).
The ACTU has not achieved the ideals expressed for One Big Union: it remains a council organisation and still has not successfully achieved the support of all workers organisations. Currently the ACTU is opposed by another peak council, the miniscule Australian Council of Professional Associations which caters to a small number of non-union bodies.
Additionally, from its formation in 1927 the ACTU was only seen as represting blue collar trades unions, and only managed to achieve the support of trades unions. From 1948 peak bodies of white collar associations existed, and from 1969 peak bodies of government employees. The white collar bodies were: the Council of Professional and Commercial Employees Association (1948), which became the Council of White Collar Associations (1954), which amalgamated with the Salaried Employees Consultative Council of New South Wales (1954) to become the Australian Council of Salaried and Professional Associations (ACSPA) in 1956. The government employee bodies were: the Council of Commonwealth Public Service Organisations (1969) which became the Council of Australian Government Employee Organisations (CAGEO) in 1975. The ACTU only managed to successfully integrate these bodies in 1981. After 1981 the ACTU was generally viewed by the Australian media and public as the organisation representing all workers' organisations.
The ACTU and Labour Councils have often united Australian working class opinion behind certain initiatives like the 8 hour day or compulsory arbitration. In the early 1980s this unifying impulse was used to force an accord between government, capital and labour on wages and prices; when the ALP Federal government and ACTU used their influence to convince reluctant unionists. The ACTU retains a close relationship with the Australian Labor Party, former ACTU President Bob Hawke went on to become the leader of the ALP and then Prime Minister of Australia.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the ACTU was influential in a move to forcibly amalgamate smaller unions into so called "super unions". The ACTU's plans envisaged 20 super unions organised on an industrial basis. While a large number of amalgamations occured in the late 1980s and early 1990s (in part under the influence of changed industrial law), there are still a large number of unions, and union coverage is often organised by historical amalgamation, not by industry.
The current ACTU President is Sharan Burrow and its Secretary is Greg Combet.
Current member organisations
- Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia
- Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union
- Australian Education Union
- Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers
- Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association
- Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
- Australian Maritime Officers Union
- Australian Nursing Federation
- Australian Professional Footballers' Association
- Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation
- Australian Services Union
- Australian Workers Union
- Australian Writers' Guild
- Blind Workers Union of Victoria
- Breweries & Bottleyards Employees Industrial Union of Workers WA
- Civil Air Operations Officers Association of Australia
- Club Managers Association Australia
- Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia
- Community and Public Sector Union
- Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union
- Finance Sector Union
- Flight Attendants Association of Australia - Domestic/Regional Division
- Flight Attendants' Association of Australia - International Division
- Funeral and Allied Industries Union of NSW
- Health Services Union
- Independent Education Union of Australia
- Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union
- Maritime Union of Australia
- Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
- Medical Scientists Association of Victoria
- National Tertiary Education Union
- National Union of Workers
- New South Wales Nurses' Association
- Police Federation of Australia
- Rail, Tram and Bus Union
- Rugby League Professionals Association
- Salaried Pharmacists Association of WA Union of Workers
- Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association
- Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia
- Transport Workers Union
- Union of Christmas Island Workers
- United Firefighters Union of Australia
- Victorian Psychologists Association Incorporated
- Western Australian Prison Officers Union of Workers
- Woolclassers Association of Australia
See also
- 1998 Australian waterfront dispute
- Arbitration
- Australian Industrial Relations Commission
- Australian labour law
- Australian Workplace Agreement
- Collective bargaining
- Common law contract (industrial relations)
- Compulsory arbitration
- Dog-collar act
- Employer association
- Enterprise Bargaining Agreement
- Federal award
- Industrial union
- Picket
- Protected industrial action
- Scab
- State award
- Trades Hall
- Trade Practices Act
- Unprotected industrial action
- List of unregistered Australian unions
- Workplace Relations Act 1996
External link
- ACTU website (http://www.actu.asn.au)