Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is the highest labor organization in Australia. It oversees over thirty-five affiliated unions representing over 1.6 million Australian workers. The ACTU was formed in 1927 after decades of Australians fighting for more rights and better treatment in the workplace. Representatives of the organization meet every three years to discuss labor issues and plan for future work and goals.

The ACTU and other labor organizations held the most power in the mid-twentieth century, when manufacturing and other industries were at their prime in Australia. Although the ACTU has fewer members per capita than in the past, it remains an important influencer in politics and business in the country.

Background

Workers and laborers have long fought for their rights, including better safety in the workplace, better pay, and fewer hours of work. Labor unions are organizations in which workers band together to demand better working conditions and compensation from employers. The idea behind labor unions is that as a group, workers can have a huge impact on a business, company, or industry, and when they work together, they can force change that is positive for them.

When Europeans first colonized Australia, they displaced Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from their lands. Australia’s First Peoples resisted colonization, so the British shipped in large numbers of people to make it more difficult for the people who were already living there to remove them. The British transported thousands of convicts, who were often used as free forced labor. The conditions the convicts faced were so egregious that eventually, they rebelled against their forced servitude. As early as the 1790s, convicts were banding together to take collective actions, such as striking from their work, to demand better treatment.

Workers in other sectors also banded together soon after European settlement began on the continent. In the 1820s, the first labor unions formed in Australia, mostly in Sydney and Hobart. In 1824, a group of coopers went on strike, and typographers at a newspaper went on strike a few years later. However, an 1828 law in New South Wales made it illegal for people to refuse to work. Union membership again became popular in the 1850s. Approximately four hundred labor unions were created from the 1850s to the 1890s. The early unions represented workers such as stonemasons and carpenters. In 1854, hundreds of gold miners started an uprising at the Eureka Stockade. It was eventually quelled by the police and soldiers. This collective action was unsuccessful, but it helped cement the idea of workers banding together to fight for their rights. The 1870s saw an increase in union participation, including participation among women, and by 1890, approximately two hundred thousand Australian workers were part of a union.

In the last decade of the 1800s, economic turmoil saw a decrease in union membership; however, union membership again increased in the early 1900s. These unions had won some important rights, including the right to a forty-four-hour work week in some industries. In 1927, multiple unions met at the Melbourne Trades Hall and formed the ACTU to help them further work together.

Overview

After its creation in 1927, the ACTU played an important role in politics and labor disputes. The organization came into existence just before a pivotal time for Australian workers, the Great Depression. This worldwide financial crisis that began in 1929 still caused one in three Australians to lose their jobs, but the ACTU and individual unions helped workers fight for some rights at a time when businesses had much more power in society. In the late 1930s, World War II broke out in Europe, and manufacturing and increased production from the war gave workers more opportunities.

After World War II, manufacturing and other industries often protected by unions increased their work. The ACTU helped unions band together to improve workplaces by increasing equality for women, improving workers’ hours, increasing paid time off, and improving working conditions. Although individual people and unions also helped these changes, many people believe that the ACTU played an important role in the changes. Despite the changes the groups helped create, the role of unions diminished from its apex in the 1940s and 1950s. A significant decline in union membership in Australia began during the 1970s. For example, the percentage of blue-collar workers who were members of unions decreased from approximately 61 percent in 1954 to 49 percent in 1971. The decline in union membership in Australia had many causes, including changes in the types of jobs workers held and an increase in mechanization.

Despite the decline in membership, individual unions and the ACTU continued to work toward changing Australian workplaces. For example, in 2007, the ACTU defeated an anti-union campaign called “Work Choices” that the government tried to enact. The organization also helped create a movement that helped pass the Fair Work Act in 2009. Furthermore, in 2018, the ACTU fought so that the Fair Work Commission instituted five days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave.

The ACTU, governed by an executive committee, has a head office in Melbourne and several smaller offices in other cities nationwide. The organization also elects four officers—a secretary, a president, and two assistant secretaries. Although the executive committee and the elected officers play an important role in the day-to-day operations of the organization, the ACTU is also greatly influenced by the ACTU Congress. The Congress, which is held every three years, is made up of members of affiliated unions. The delegates at the congress work in a manner similar to that of a parliament, with representatives making decisions that affect the entire organization. Delegates vote on policies concerning workplace rights, ACTU campaigns, and more. The Congress essentially helps set the organization’s agenda for the next three years.

In the 2020s, the ACTU experienced a loss of memberships as affiliated unions left the organization. The Electrical Trades Union of Australia and the Construction, Forestry, and Maritime Employees Union disaffiliated with the ACTU after expressing dissatisfaction with ACTU's leadership and the direction of the organization. Only months later, the approximately 100,000 members of the Communications, Electrical, and Plumbing Union of Australia left the organization. Overall, between 1992 and 2024, union member employees fell from 40 percent to 13 percent. The education and training industry and the professional occupation group had the highest membership rates. Despite lower membership rates, the ACTU continued advocating for causes important to Australian workers, including the right to disconnect from work during off-time hours, paid family and domestic violence leave, and supporting workers' increased cost of living during high inflation.

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