<
https://theconversation.com/if-you-havent-joined-a-union-its-time-you-paid-to-benefit-from-union-deals-197992>
"A long overdue public debate has started in Australia about “free riding” in
industrial relations – when non-union members benefit from collective
agreements negotiated by union members without contributing (through membership
dues or other payments) to their negotiation and administration.
Several union leaders want rules to stop free riding. Without this, they argue,
union membership will keep falling, imperilling collective bargaining.
The issue has been given impetus by the latest data on union membership rates.
The proportion of employees belonging to a union is now a record low 12.5%. In
the private sector it’s just 8%.
In the 1980s more than half of the Australian workforce was unionised. Since
then Australia has experienced the most dramatic deunionisation of any major
industrial country.
That, at least in part, is by design. The Howard government passed laws in the
late 1990s and 2000s prohibiting union preferences in hiring, bargaining fees
or other structured supports for union membership.
But the idea workers can get something for nothing – enjoying the benefits of
collective bargaining, without contributing to its costs – ignores both
economic theory and reality."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
