Deterring Democracy? Australia's New Generation of Trade Union Officials

Abstract

This article considers the continued relevance of two key arguments made by Callus (1986) in the mid-1980s as regards Australian trade union officials: first, that the labour market for trade union officials is clearly and sharply segmented; and second, that the growth of expert officer appointments has had a negligible impact on union democracy. Using census and union data, I conclude that the segmentation detected by Callus may be eroding, that union officials as a bloc are becoming increasingly differentiated from the rank-and-file membership, and that, although the growth of the expert officer class is secondary in its effect when compared to the main forces restricting the full play of union democracy, it may nonetheless be having an impact. The article concludes by considering the poten tial for a revival of union democracy.

A Portrait of Australian Trade Union Officials

“…I have argued in greater detail elsewhere (Bramble 2000(Bramble , 2001) that these changes are not so much a cause as a reflection of significant changes to Australian union strategy since the late 1960s and early 1970s. Specifically, the development of 'outsider' leaderships instead of 'organic' leaderships and the tendency towards the appointment of officials with 'expert' qualifications, are indicative of the top-down and class-collaborationist character of the strategies pursued by Australian unions since the early 1970s and serve as the mirror image of the decline of militant rank-and-file activism in the same period.…”

“…The relationship between the two factors is mutually reinforcing: the decline of membership activism drains unions of potential union leaders from the ranks, while the pursuit of top-down legal and political strategies and 'working within the system' highlights the importance of 'professional' skills in the upper echelons of the unions, a phenomenon that in the 1980s and 1990s was actively encouraged by federal government funding for such positions. Both have combined to marginalize 'organic democratic' unionism in favour of 'outsider bureaucratic' unionism in the Australian labour movement (Bramble 2000). …”

“…1 In doing so, it provides an update on the research published on this topic by Davis (1978), Dufty (1980), Cupper (1983), Plowman and Spooner (1983), Callus (1986), and Bramble (1995). Unlike most of the above, 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 workforce.…”

“…The work-force of Australian unions is highly segmented by gender (Bramble 1995). 4 However, the level of gender segmentation has been under attack in recent years, with rapid increases in the number of female union officials (Table 1).…”

The Purpose of Trade Union Values: An Analysis of the ACTU1 Statement of Values

“…Other, broad, ideologicalcultural movements, such as feminism and postcolonialism, which have affected society in general, have also influenced and shaped union identities, as principles from these movements have been absorbed into union strategies or behaviours (McBride, 2001). Finally, specific, post-industrial societies have given rise to ''professional'', or ''managerialist'' tendencies (Heery and Kelly, 1994;Bramble, 1995) and a ''business'' type model in unions (Crouch, 1979;Flanders, 1985). In present times, there is a ''pluralism of trade unionisms'' or a multiplicity of union identities based on different ideologies (Hyman, 2001).…”