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TRADE UNION MEMBERS
ABSTRACT
The past two decades have seen a dramatic decline in trade union
membership rates across Australia. This decline has occurred at a time
of significant change in the industrial relations environment. In 1986,
46% of employees belonged to a trade union. By 2007 the rate of
membership had fallen to 19% of employees. This article reports on
trends in unionisation rates over the past twenty years in terms of age,
sex, type of employment, industry and occupation. The article also
compares Australian trade union membership rates with those of other
countries.
INTRODUCTION
In the last twenty years, the industrial relations environment in
Australia has undergone significant change. Beginning in the mid-1980s,
there has been a series of legislative changes that have resulted in a
move away from a centralised system of awards towards agreements at the
enterprise and workplace level. The emphasis on decentralised
bargaining, and the opening up of collective and individual bargaining
to non-union members, has reduced the role of unions in the negotiation
of wages and conditions (see also
Australian
Social Trends 2008, Industrial Disputes). 1, 2
The last two decades have also seen changes in the composition of the
labour force. Most of the growth in employment since the 1980s has
occurred in industries where the level of trade unionisation has
traditionally been relatively low, such as Property and business
services.
3, 4 There has also been growth in part-time and casual
employment (where unionisation rates are generally low) and a relative
decline in public sector employment (where unionisation rates are
generally higher than in the private sector). 5 This period also saw changes in the structure of the
union movement with the amalgamation of some 300 unions into a much
smaller number of unions organised along industry lines. 1
Associated with these changes, there has been a dramatic decline in
trade union membership rates since the 1980s.
TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP
Trade union membership has declined steadily since the early 1980s. In
1986, 46% of Australian employees (or 2.6 million) were trade union
members; by 2007 the unionisation rate had declined to 19% (or 1.7
million employees). While the rates for male and female employees
converged over the period, to 19% and 18% respectively, unionisation
rates were higher among male than female employees in all age groups up
to 45 years in 2007.
Although unionisation rates fell across all age groups between 1986 and
2007, the pattern of generally higher rates of trade union membership
among older employees and lower rates among younger employees was
maintained. The biggest decrease in rates were seen in the younger age
groups. Over this period, the trade union membership rate among
employees aged 15-24 years fell from about one in three (36%) to one in
ten (10%), and the rate among employees aged 25-34 fell from 48% to 15%.
The decline in unionisation rates is also observed when age cohorts are
examined, suggesting that people may not be renewing their membership
from year to year or when they change jobs. To some extent, this would
be expected as older workers move to managerial and other non-unionised
positions.
6
UNIONISATION RATES, BY AGE
Source: ABS 1986 Survey of Trade Union Members and ABS
2007 Survey of Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership.
In 1986, almost half (48%) of those employees born in the 1950s, and
then aged 25-34 years, were union members. Ten years later the
unionisation rate of this cohort, then aged 35-44 years, had fallen to
36%, and a further decade later it was 28% (26% in 2007). Similarly,
among employees born in the 1960s and aged 15-24 years in 1986, 36%
belonged to a union. Ten years later their unionisation rate had fallen
to 30%, and the decline continued to 23% in 2006 (20% in 2007).
EMPLOYEES
Falling unionisation rates are evident when the workforce is examined by
sector, industry, occupation and type of employment. The workforce has
continued to undergo compositional change, which has tended to increase
the employment share of groups that generally have lower unionisation
rates at the expense of groups that have higher rates.
Sector
The proportion of public sector employees who belonged to a trade union
fell from 55% in 1997 to 41% in 2007, while the proportion in the
private sector fell from 23% to 14%.
In addition, over this period the share of public sector employees of
the total workforce fell from 22% to 19%.
Industry
Between 1997 and 2007, trade union membership rates fell across all
industries. There were relatively steep declines in a number of
industries including Finance and insurance (from 36% to 11%),
Communication services (60% to 28%), Cultural and recreational services
(24% to 14%), and Property and business services (from 10% to 5%). While
the Education and Electricity, gas and water supply industries
experienced falls in membership rates, they still maintained relatively
high overall membership rates (40% and 34% respectively in 2007).
Over this period, the share of the total workforce employed in the more
highly unionised Manufacturing industry fell (from 15% to 11%) while the
share working in the less unionised Property and business services
industry increased (from 10% to 12%).
EMPLOYEES AND UNIONISATION RATE: BY SELECTED INDUSTRY, SECTOR AND
TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT
 |
|
| | 1997 | | 2007 |
| |
| |
|
| | Employees | Unionisation
rate | | Employees | Unionisation
rate |
| | % | % | | % | % |
|
| Sector | | | | | |
| Public sector | 22.1 | 54.7 | | 18.9 | 41.1 |
| Private sector | 77.9 | 23.3 | | 81.1 | 13.7 |
| Selected industry | | | | | |
| Electricity, gas and water supply | 1.0 | 65.9 | | 0.9 | 34.1 |
| Communication services | 2.0 | 59.8 | | 1.8 | 27.5 |
| Education | 8.2 | 49.3 | | 8.0 | 39.7 |
| Manufacturing | 14.8 | 36.6 | | 11.0 | 20.4 |
| Mining | 1.1 | 43.9 | | 1.5 | 21.5 |
| Finance and insurance | 4.3 | 35.5 | | 4.2 | 11.5 |
| Health and community services | 10.3 | 34.6 | | 11.2 | 25.3 |
| Cultural and recreational services | 2.3 | 23.8 | | 2.6 | 14.2 |
| Retail trade | 14.3 | 22.3 | | 15.0 | 13.6 |
| Accommodation, cafes and restaurants | 5.0 | 15.5 | | 5.1 | 6.2 |
| Property and business services | 10.4 | 10.0 | | 11.9 | 5.5 |
| Full-time / Part-time status | | | | | |
| Full-time employees | 72.5 | 33.7 | | 70.5 | 20.7 |
| Part-time employees | 27.5 | 21.3 | | 29.5 | 14.3 |
| Type of employment | | | | | |
| With paid leave entitlements | 74.2 | 36.0 | | 72.9 | 23.3 |
| Without paid leave entitlements | 25.8 | 13.8 | | 27.1 | 6.9 |
| Total | 100.0 | 30.3 | | 100.0 | 18.9 |
|
Source: ABS 1997 Survey of Weekly Earnings of Employees
(Distribution) and 2007 Survey of Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade
Union Membership.
Occupation
Trade union membership rates are higher in 'blue collar' occupation
groups such as Intermediate production and transport workers and
Tradespersons and related workers, and are lowest in the higher skilled
'white collar' occupations such as Managers and administrators and
Advanced clerical and service workers. Unionisation rates for female
employees were higher than males for Managers and administrators (15%
and 9% respectively in 2007), and Professionals (30% and 17%).
As with other aspects of employment, falls in unionisation rates between
1997 and 2007 have been observed across all occupation groups. The
largest declines in rates were among Intermediate production and
transport workers (from 48% to 29%), Tradespersons and related workers
(38% to 22%), and Labourers and related workers (33% to 20%).
The occupation distribution of employees has also changed between 1997
and 2007, with a trend away from the relatively higher unionised
occupations of Labourers and related workers, Tradespersons and related
workers, and Intermediate production and transport workers.
Type of employment
Unionisation rates also differed with employment conditions. Rates were
higher for full-time employees (21% in 2007) than part-time employees
(14%), and were also higher for those with paid leave entitlements (23%
in 2007) than those without paid leave entitlements (7%). The
unionisation rates in all these groups fell between 1997 and 2007, most
notably among people without leave entitlements (from 14% to 7%).
OTHER INFORMATION
Data sources and definitions
Data for this article are from the ABS survey of Employee Earnings,
Benefits and Trade Union Membership (EEBTUM), conducted annually in
August as a supplement to the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
A
trade union is an organisation consisting predominantly of
employees and is concerned with negotiating rates of pay and employment
conditions for its members.
A
trade union member is an employee with membership in a trade
union related to the member's main job.
The
trade union membership rate (also known as the unionisation
rate) is the proportion of employees who are trade union members.
International comparison
There is considerable variation in the trade union membership rates
among OECD countries. In 2003, compared with the Australian unionisation
rate of 23%, lower rates were observed in France (8%), Korea (11%) and
the United States (12%); while much higher rates were observed in
Denmark (70%) and Finland (74%). Countries with unionisation rates
closer to Australia's included Japan (20%), The Netherlands (22%), New
Zealand (22% in 2002) and Germany (23%).
6
There were some similarities in the pattern of trade union membership
across countries. Rates were generally higher in the public than private
sector, and higher for full-time than part-time employees. Unionisation
rates in manufacturing were generally at least equal to or higher than
the national average and rates for young workers (aged 16-24 years) were
generally lower. Differences between men and women varied from country
to country, with employed women more likely than employed men to be
union members in Finland, Norway and Sweden.
7
While a small number of countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland
and Korea, experienced an increase in unionisation rates over the period
1970 to 1990; the picture from 1990 to 2003 was one of declining rates
in virtually all OECD countries. Steep declines were observed in
Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Germany. As in Australia, the
changing composition of the workforce and legislative changes were
associated with declining unionisation rates in other countries.
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TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP RATES, SELECTED COUNTRIES
|
| Country | 1993 | 2003 |
|
| Sweden | 83.9 | 78.0 |
| Italy | 39.2 | 33.7 |
| United Kingdom | 36.1 | 29.3 |
| Canada | 32.8 | 28.4 |
| Australia | 37.6 | 22.9 |
| New Zealand(a) | 34.5 | 22.1 |
| Japan | 24.3 | 19.7 |
| United States | 15.1 | 12.4 |
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(a) 1993 and 2002 for New Zealand.
Source: Visser, J 2006, 'Union membership statistics in
24 countries', Monthly Labour Review, January, pp. 38-49; Blanchflower,
DG 2007, 'International Patterns of Union Membership', British Journal
of Industrial Relations, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 1-28.
States and territories
The downward trend in unionisation since 1986 was reflected in each
state and territory. The unionisation rate in Tasmania, which has the
highest proportion of trade union members, fell from 55% in 1986 to 24%
in 2007. By comparison, in the ACT, which has the lowest unionisation
rate, the proportion of union members fell from 42% to 15% over the same
period.
UNIONISATION RATES: STATES AND TERRITORIES
ENDNOTES
1
Cole, K 2007, Workplace Relations in
Australia, Pearson Education, Australia.
2
Peetz, D 2002 'Individual contracts, bargaining
and union membership', Australian Bulletin of Labour, vol. 28,
no. 1, pp. 39-52.
3
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004 'Trade Union
Membership', in Australian
Labour Market Statistics, April 2004, cat. no. 6105.0, ABS,
Canberra.
4
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, 'Industrial
relations', Year
Book Australia, ABS, Canberra.
5
Wooden, M, and Sloan, J 1998, Industrial relations reform and labour
market outcomes: A comparison of Australia, New Zealand and the United
Kingdom. Paper presented at the Reserve Bank of Australia 1998
conference: Unemployment and the Australian Labour Market, 9-10 June
1998.
6
Blanchflower, DG 2007, 'International Patterns of
Union Membership', British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol.
45, no. 1, pp. 1-28.
7
Visser, J 2006, 'Union membership statistics in
24 countries', Monthly Labour Review, January, pp. 38-49.
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