Labour & Bill Shorten, page-16

Wake up, Betterman, it's not the 1970s anymore!

Unions have never been weaker and more ineffectual than now. Fewer than 15% of people are members, compared to around 50% 45 years ago -- a large part of our current wage stagnation is due precisely to this weakness. The trend towards the casualisation of work is also due to union weakness.

When unions are on a roll, and winning larger slices of the pie, consumption increases as does economic activity. It's what we need a bit of now.