Trade Union

Topic: Necessity of trade unions for IR of the 21st Century

This essay has been prepared to identify and understand the necessity of trade unions for the industrial relations of the 21st century. Though over the last couple of hundred years trade unions in Australia have developed into a number of forms, the contribution of trade unions to the industrial relations development is still questionable to many critics. This essay highlights some of these debating issues and discusses the criticisms against the importance of the trade unions. Similarly, it also cross-checks the arguments made by various researchers in favour of the trade unions’ contributions in the Australian industrial relations over the century. Finally, based on the discussion this essay comes to the conclusion that trade unions are in fact an integral part of the industrial relation system and since the 21st century is dealing with a more competitive, diverse and global workforce, the necessity of the trade unions is increasing accordingly for the overall development of the industrial relations systems.

Trade unions are the collective voice of the employees. The primary role of a trade union is to ensure better work conditions through a collective negotiating process with the employer since the union considers that it is a fundamental right of employees to organise a collective action, (Bray et al, 2005), (Combat 2002). In Australia, trade union movements can be traced back since last century. Since then the unions have contributed tremendously in nurturing and developing the Australian industrial relations system. Starting from the “bread and butter industrial issue” (Combat, 2002, p.135), of the world’s best minimum wage level, the unions marked their footprints on important issues like wage increases through centralised award systems, safer workplaces, equality for women, improvements in working hours, entitlements to paid holidays, better employment...