Australian Council of Trade Unions

Objectives

The objectives of the ACTU, found in its constitution, are:

• the socialisation of industry,
• the organisation of wage and salary earners in the Australian workforce (within the trade union movement),
• the utilisation of Australian resources to maintain full employment, establish equitable living standards which increase in line with output, and create opportunities for the development of talent.

Organisation

The ACTU holds a biennial congress that is attended by approximately 800 delegates from affiliated organisations. Between congresses the ACTU is governed by an executive of 60 members: the president, the two vice-presidents, the secretary, the assistant secretaries, Trades and Labour Council representatives from each capital city, and elected delegates from affiliated unions.

Current campaigns

The ACTU's main current campaigns include the campaign to win paid pandemic leave for all workers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the For the workers campaign to oppose Commonwealth Government proposals to change Australian workplace laws, and the promotion of a Working from Home Charter.

Following the 2007 Australian federal election, the ACTU's primary focus was the campaign to restore workers rights under the banner of the Your Rights at Work campaign. In addition to this campaign, the ACTU is also running a number of other campaigns, including workplace health and safety, working with other unions on the Your Rights at Telstra campaign and supporting the Rights on Site campaign.

The ACTU has also launched a service by which workers can join their applicable union directly through the ACTU. This self-titled "one stop shop" for union membership is Australian Unions.

In 2008, the ACTU launched a campaign to make paid maternity leave a new national employment standard.

In 2011, the ACTU launched a campaign to address the spread of casual, contract and other forms of insecure work in Australian workplaces. Part of this involved an inquiry into insecure work.

In 2023, the ACTU and other big unions, including the Health Services Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, began a campaign calling for a levy to be imposed on non-union workers after the union was able to raise wages through collective bargaining.

History

In Australia, agitation for One Big Union took place from 1911 from two different sectors: 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 collapse of the Australian IWW, a group of militant trade unions (which were 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. The ACTU was formed as the Australasian Council of Trade Unions in 1927 and 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. The ACTU has not achieved the ideals expressed for One Big Union: it remains a council organisation, but it does however represent the majority of Australian trade unions. At its formation in 1927 the ACTU was only seen as representing blue collar trades unions, and only managed to achieve the support of trades unions.

Attempts of Nationalist Stanley Bruce's federal government in 1927 to dismantle the Australian Industrial Relations Commission impelled 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 and Labour Councils have often united Australian working class opinion behind certain initiatives like the eight-hour day or compulsory arbitration. In the early 1980s this unifying impulse created the Prices and Incomes Accord. 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. Other former ACTU Presidents who went on to become members of Federal Parliament are: Simon Crean (president 1985–90), Martin Ferguson (1990–96), Jennie George (1996–99), and Ged Kearney (2010–18). The November 2007 election win by the Labor Party, saw the election of a number of union officials to the parliament (Commonwealth) including Bill Shorten (Australian Workers Union) and Greg Combet (former ACTU Secretary).

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 many amalgamations occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s (in part under the influence of changed industrial law), there are still many unions, and union coverage is often organised by historical amalgamation, not by industry.

Past campaigns

In the lead up to the 2007 federal election, the ACTU campaigned actively against the Howard government's WorkChoices legislation, which included an advertising campaign and public rallies. This campaign was originally called "Your Rights at Work" but is now known as "Secure Jobs. Better Future" and was considered a success in making industrial relations an important election issue by both marketing companies and even MP Joe Hockey, the Federal Workplace Relations Minister, who said "This is the most sophisticated political plan that we have seen in Australia." One of the rallies was called *Fill the "G" *, attended by 50,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and broadcast to other similar rallies throughout the country. A previous national rally had a reported attendance of 500,000 around Australia.

Leadership

Presidents

Secretaries

Affiliated trade and labour councils

Eight trade and labour councils are affiliated with the ACTU:

• Queensland Council of Unions
• SA Unions
• Unions ACT
• Labor Council of New South Wales (Unions NSW)
• Unions NT
• Tasmanian Trades & Labor Council
• Unions WA
• Victorian Trades Hall Council

Current affiliated organisations

• Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union
• Australian and International Pilots Association
• Australian Education Union
• Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers
• Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association
• Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
• Australian Maritime Officers Union
• Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation
• Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation
• Australian Services Union
• Australian Workers' Union
• Breweries & Bottleyards Employees Industrial Union of Workers WA
• Civil Air Operations Officers' Association of Australia
• Club Managers Association Australia
• Community and Public Sector Union
• Finance Sector Union
• Flight Attendants' Association of Australia
• Health Services Union
• Independent Education Union of Australia
• Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
• Mining and Energy Union
• National Tertiary Education Union
• Police Association of New South Wales
• Professional Footballers Australia
• Professionals Australia
• Australian Rail Tram and Bus Industry Union
• Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association
• Transport Workers Union of Australia
• Union of Christmas Island Workers
• United Firefighters Union of Australia
• United Workers Union

Dis-affiliated organisations

In 2024, the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia disaffiliated from the ACTU, citing the latter's support for the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) being placed into administration by the Federal Government. The CFMEU had been suspended from the ACTU and the Australian Labor Party following allegations of criminal misconduct in its construction division.

References

References

1. (December 1977). "The Founding of the ACTU: The Origins of a Central Trade Union Federation". Journal of Industrial Relations.
2. "Campaigns".
3. "For the workers | Australian Unions".
4. "Working From Home Charter | Australian Unions".
5. "Australian Unions - We're for workers".
6. "Highest Standards for Harmonised OHS Laws Petition".
7. "Rights on Site website".
8. "For The Workers {{!}} Join Your Union Today".
9. "Campaign {{!}} Paid Parental Leave".
10. Kelly, Joe. (16 May 2012). "ACTU out to reverse work 'casualisation', improve bargaining power". [[The Australian]].
11. Kelly, Joe. (14 May 2012). "Stoush brews over full-time job orders". [[The Australian]].
12. Thompson, Angus. (10 January 2023). "Unions push for a wage deal levy for non-members". [[The Age]].
13. "Parties to the Award, Introduction, page 11". University of Melbourne Archives.
14. Ewart, Heather. (14 July 2005). "Ads argue the case for and against IR changes". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
15. "November 30: Take action all around Australia.".
16. "Campaign Results".
17. Kirk, Alexandra. (13 June 2007). "ABC transcript of radio interview with Joe Hockey". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
18. Holroyd, Jane. (30 November 2006). "IR laws 'just not cricket'". [[The Age]].
19. Rennie, Reko. (30 November 2006). "March stops city traffic". [[The Age]].
20. (15 November 2005). "Thousands protest against IR laws". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
21. Barnes, Renee. (15 November 2005). "Protesters engulf Melbourne CBD". [[The Age]].
22. "Affiliates and TLCs".
23. Johnson, Chris. (9 September 2024). "Big blue-collar union quits ACTU in support of CFMEU". PS News.
24. (17 July 2024). "CFMEU suspended from Federal Labor Party and ACTU, placed in administration amid criminal allegations". [[SBS News]].