A good deal of idiocy is associated with many debates about preference to unionists and its perceived corollary, “compulsory unionism”. It must be stressed at the outset that, as a matter of law, there is no such thing as legal compulsory unionism in Australia.
It is an irony that for most of the 1970s and earlier, the most vocal and strident critics of the Australian centralised and regulated wages system were located well to the ‘Left’ of the industrial relations mainstream. Such critics alleged that the centralised conciliation and arbitration system acted against the interests of unions when seeking to extract the best possible deal from employers.
Thank you for this invitation to talk about a few ideas. In looking at Japan, in looking at the experience of the Japanese economy and the industrial relations system of Japan, it is interesting for an Australian trade union official to think about ‘how did Japan achieve the economic successes that it has over the last three decades?’ and ‘what lessons there might be there that are applicable to Australia?’
For some years now trade unions in New South Wales, and more recently the ACTU, have turned their attention to the possibilities and pitfalls of employee financial participation in the enterprises for which their members work.
Affluence: “union movement has completed its mission – one of the most successful organisations of this century”.