Keating and Hawke sidelined the unions by introducing strong work place relation laws tp protrect workers (like unfair dimissal).
If such laws are in place unions lose they relevance.
The Liberal party under John Howard however watered down these laws and put the double whammy on the average worker by virtually trying to out law unions from the work place.
If strong fair work place laws existed which gives more equal power between employer and employee then unions would be a thing of the past.
Keating was trying to move towards such a model , Howard attempted to smash both work place laws and the unions to give all the power to the employer.
In general as you can see by the massive amount of unpaid overtime that the employers still hold the whip hand and are not afraid of using the whip.
