The 'sweeping industrial reforms' planned by John Howard will hit in a climate where voters of all political persuasions feel the economy is not delivering for working families.

Annual survey of workers earning less than $60,000

These findings are contained in the annual State of the Union report, a major poll of 1,000 NSW workers earning under $60,000 conducted by Auspoll for Unions NSW.

Among key findings are that an overwhelming 88 per cent of NSW workers support the ongoing existence of unions, including 76 per cent of all non-union members and 70 per cent of Liberal voters.

No groundswell of opinion to attack trade unions

"It is clear that there is no ground swell of support for an agenda of attacking trade unions," Unions NSW secretary John Robertson says.

"This is important to understand and provides a counter balance to the federal government's claims that unions are an historical anachronism whose passing should be a matter of universal joy."

Growing disillusionment with politics

While unions have broad support there is growing disillusionment with the political process and major parties, including:

• 80 per cent (including 77 per cent of Liberal voters) agreeing that while the economy is going well, it is a struggle for working people to make ends meet

• 88 per cent of people agreeing the government has a moral obligation to ensure that every worker earns enough to have a decent quality of life.and

• 71 per cent believing both Labor and Liberal are too close to big business, and

• 59 per cent believing that neither major party stands up for working people any more.

Workers crying out for leadership

Robertson says a vast majority of workers are crying out for some sort of leadership, which allow them to gain a modicum of control over their destiny.

" I'm not saying the return to the central arbitration system - where everybody's conditions were pegged to the Metalworker Award is the answer.

No thirst for more workplace deregulation

" But I do question, whether their really is the thirst for more wholesale deregulation and an outright attack on trade unions."

The survey, designed to create a snapshot of working people in NSW, has been conducted over the past ten years.

Key findings

Key trend findings in 2005 include:

• Half of all workers agree they 'would rather be in a union'

• 41 per cent of non-members who say they would like to be in a union have never been asked

• There is an increasing satisfaction with the performance of trade unions, and

• The growing perception that management has power than unions.

In recent years, Unions NSW has extended its State of the Union report to build a fuller picture about the attitudes of workers - and the differences between different demographics of workers

These add to the picture built from our benchmark questions.

Intensity and demands of work increasing

On general attitudes to work there a sense that the intensity and demands of work are increasing:

• 54 per cent agree or agree strongly that they are working harder than ever before

• One in three workers say the number of hours they are working is putting stress on home life - with workers who are parents even more likely to agree with the proposition

• 37 per cent of workers are working unpaid over time - with those on individual contracts are most likely to be working for free

Looking at attitudes of different groups of workers helps us build our picture of the current state of the Australian workplace - and the impact further labour market deregulation will have - more fully.

Juggling jobs and families

Without doubt, working parents - those juggling their jobs with family responsibilities, are the group who currently feel the most vulnerable.

Anyone who has had a child will tell you it's a life-changing event, a point where they begging to feel their responsibilities as both a provider and nurturer.

Secure employment for working parents

And the basis of this responsibility is secure employment:

• 93 per cent of parents say job security is very important to them - and this is the one thing that labour market deregulation sets out to undermine in the name of flexibility.

• The point of becoming a parent is a particular point of vulnerability, where 74 per cent of parents say their attitude to work changes.

• For many the manifestation of these changes attitudes is guilt - one in three (34 per cent0 of parents say that due to work commitments they don't give their children the parenting they deserve;

• 47 per cent say they don't have the time to be as involved in their kids education as they would like.

• Nearly half (45 per cent) say they would reduce their working hours and take a drop in pay if they had the chance.

Younger workers
Younger workers don't have the same life commitments, but many are keenly aware that what they are doing now matters in the long term.

The survey showed young workers breaking the stereotype of footloose, transient workers, which the federal government often puts forward as the happy beneficiaries of labour market deregulation.

The research suggested that most younger workers have a serious long-term career plan:

• While transient, 40 per cent of workers say they are collecting skills and experience from other sources; but

• 40 per cent do see their current job as long term.

• The majority (60 per cent) are not prepared to trade off conditions for extra money

Older workers worried

As for older workers, who have lived through the changes of the past decade, they have quite a complex take on the world of work.

Personally, they are worried:

• 71 per cent say they are concerned they will not have enough money to retire when they want to;

• 61 per cent say they are concerned that if they lose their job they won't get another one that is as good; and

• 77 per cent say they do worry about the next generation of workers.