The union membership picture

The number of trade union members in Australia rose by 70,000 in the 12 months before the federal government gained control of the Senate, according to an Australian Associated Press report on March 28.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said there was a 4% jump in union membership between August 2004 and August 2005, with the total number of members reaching 1.9 million — more than 1 million men and 841,000 women.

The last time there were more than 2 million union members was in 1998. However, proportionally, union members made up 22.7% of the work force in 2004, falling to 22.4% in 2005.

According to the ABS figures, Tasmania is the most unionised state, with almost 26% coverage. The Northern Territory has the lowest union membership rate of just 18.3%.

The education industry is the most unionised, with 43% of the sector's 690,000 workers being union members. Sectors with low unionisation include agriculture (5.7%), transport and storage (7.2%), property and business services (6.9%) and wholesale trade (9.2%).

Full-time workers (24.8%) are more likely to be union members than their part-time counterparts (16.7%). In the public sector, 47% are union members, while just 17% of those in the private sector are members.

Around a third of people earning $1000-$1400 a week are union members, but people earning less than $600 are much less likely to be members.

This corresponds with the ABS finding that a majority of people earning more than $1000 a week were likely to have access to maternity or paternity leave.

Eighty per cent of people earning less than $200 a week had no leave entitlements, while 46% of those earning between $200 and $400 a week were also without access to leave of any type.

From Green Left Weekly, April 5, 2006.

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From GLW issue 663