Trade union membership in Western Australia plunged more than 10 per cent last year, dropping to just 16 per cent of the total boom state workforce of 886,700.
The drop in real terms is even more significant given WA's immigration and employment growth during the period in question, with the total number of employees in the state rising by 40,000 in the same period union membership fell by more than 16,000, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released today.
Unionism has fallen out of favour faster in WA than the rest of the nation where membership fell 6.6 per cent for the same period.
However, the nation is following the WA lead, with employees holding union membership falling to 20 per cent of all employed people, the same percentage represented here in August 2003 when 157,200 union members represented one fifth of the workforce.
Below are announcements from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and CCIWA:
One in five employees (1.8 million people) were trade union members in relation to their main job in August 2006, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
This is a fall of 6.6% from the 1.9 million members recorded in August 2005. The proportion of employees who were trade union members also decreased over this 12 month period, from 22% of employees to 20%.
Other findings on trade union membership at August 2006 included: Full-time employees were more likely to be trade union members than part-time employees - 22% of full-time employees compared with 16% of part-time employees. Public sector employees were also more likely to be trade union members than those in the private sector (43% and 15% respectively). Male employees were more likely to be trade union members than female employees (21% and 19% respectively). The occupation group with the highest proportion of employees who were trade union members was 'machinery operators and drivers' (35%). The industries with the highest proportion of employees who were trade union members were 'electricity, gas, water and waste services' and 'education and training' (both 39%). The state or territory with the highest proportion of employees who were trade union members was Tasmania (27%).
In August 2006, the mean weekly earnings of employees in all jobs was $862, an increase of $55 (6.8%) over the previous 12 months. Mean weekly earnings of employees in their main job was $851. Full-time employees earned on average $1,045 per week in their main job, compared with $388 for part-time employees. The mean weekly earnings for full-time male employees was $1,122 and for full-time female employees it was $908.
Almost three-quarters (73%) of employees had paid leave entitlements in August 2006 (i.e. were entitled to paid holiday leave and/or paid sick leave in their main job). The proportion of full-time employees with paid leave entitlements was 86%, compared with 43% of part-time employees. A higher proportion of male employees had paid leave entitlements than female employees (76% compared with 70%).
Below is an announcement from CCIWA:
West Australians are not as troubled as trade unions claim about workplace reforms and the advent of individual employment agreements, judging by enthusiasm for union membership in the state.
ABS statistics released today show trade union membership in WA fell 10.5 per cent during the year to August 2006, equivalent to 16,600 people.
This is not a blip in the data. Support for trade unions and what they say has been in steady decline over a long period.
Since 1993 - the year in which the Court Liberal Government introduced a form of individual workplace agreements - union membership as a percentage of all WA employees has halved from 34.5 per cent to 16 per cent, or from more than one in every three to less than one in six. This is a reduction from 218,300 employees in total in 1993 to 142,400 at present.
The continuation of the trend through 2006 puts a lie to the ACTU's assertion that Australians are up in arms about WorkChoices, the much-needed overhaul of federal industrial relations laws which has just completed its first year in operation.
While scare-mongering media and advertising campaigns by the ACTU may have generated poll results indicating concern about the reforms, individuals have not been successfully recruited to unions in any meaningful numbers, and indeed many would appear to have let their membership lapse.
There are more tangible indicators showing employees on the whole are not unhappy with the simpler, less regulated, more flexible approach to remuneration and terms of employment introduced under WorkChoices. Employees and employees in Western Australia have recorded the highest take-up in the nation of Australian Workplace Agreements, an option available under WorkChoices in which rigid award conditions and union involvement are not pre-requisite. The trend to AWAs has occurred at the same time as interest in union membership has fallen.
The union scare campaign against WorkChoices and AWAs is to a large extent a membership drive and a platform for ALP industrial relations policies framed to restore union power over Australian workplaces.
Today's data is further evidence that many unions in Australia have failed to adjust to changing economic times and to the need for their country to meet international benchmarks for efficiency and productivity. Many have lost relevance to modern, working Australians and cannot look forward to a renaissance while membership remains a matter for individual choice.
