A Portrait of Australian Trade Union Officials

Abstract

Details are given of the chief characteristics of Australia's trade union officials, using data drawn from the 1986 and 1996 Australian Censuses of Population and Housing. This research note provides an update on research published by a number of authors. Unlike previous work, however, use of Census data allows for direct comparisons of the characteristics of union officials with those of union members or, where such data are not available, with the employed work-force.

How do trade unions manage themselves? A study of Australian unions’ administrative practices

“…Our discussion of Australian unions compares the findings from our 2014 online surveys with inferences from smaller-scale studies conducted earlier, before it was practicable to use online methods (Bramble, 2001; Callus, 1986; Dufty, 1980). Therefore, we propose to conduct further research including a follow-up survey in the 2020s using similar methods to those that we adopted in the survey discussed in this article.…”

“…Whitecollar unions were also more likely to recruit salaried experts from outside the union (Callus, 1986). Bramble (1995Bramble ( , 2001 notes that Australian unions came to rely more on university-educated staff in the 1990s as part of a growing trend towards professionalisation. These studies focused only on financial management and changing hiring practices, rather than on other administrative and management practices.…”