Despite increased demands on union representatives in the workplace there is currently almost no public funding for union education.
Australia’s industrial relations system has decentralised rapidly since the introduction of enterprise bargaining in 1991.
An intended and desirable consequence of enterprise bargaining is that negotiations and decisions on conditions, pay and productivity are increasingly made at a workplace level. These changes have made a significant contribution to the improved flexibility, competitiveness and productivity of Australian business.
They have also significantly increased the responsibilities and demands placed on employers and employee representatives at the enterprise level.
Governments make a significant contribution to the development of management skills through the formal education system.
However, since the abolition of the Trade Union Training Authority (TUTA) in 1996, there has been a dramatic and alarming decline in the training investment being made in the skills of employee representatives.
A lack of workplace delegate training has had a detrimental effect on the fairness and effectiveness of the bargaining system.
A fair industrial system should be supported by adequate public funding of union education.
More Information
- ACTU Background Paper: Bargaining
for unions@work - this paper argues that the funding for the education of
union delegates in Australia must be substantially boosted. Union education of
workplace activists and delegates has dramatically declined since the abolition
of Trade Union Training Authority in 1996.
- ACTU Background Paper: unions@work - in this landmark report there is an analysis of overseas experiences
with Paid Education Leave (PEL) in Canada and Scandinavia and that may point a way forward for Australian unions.
- ACTU News: Unions Create $1
Million Training Program - Australia's unions have stepped up their
organising drive with a new $1 million training program for delegates and
workplace activists. (27 November 2001)