Join the club!

You might belong to a club or be part of a sports team at school. Similarly, if you work part-time or casually, you may also be part of a union. Recent fi gures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that:

• union members earn on average 15% more than non-members do.
• 43% of union members are women.

Union membership in Australia has been significantly affected by changes in the composition of the workforce, and the structure of the economy. There has been a shift:

• from government to the private sector.
• from blue collar to white collar workers.
• from manufacturing to service industry employment.
• from full time to part time/casual.
• from male to female employment.
• from large workplaces to smaller workplaces.

A union for everyone
Whether you hammer in nails, put through sales or dance the ballet, there is a union for just about everyone (except the military). Australian workers generally belong to one of 20 super unions. However, there are also heaps of smaller unions who represent workers from a specialised area of work. Unions are not just for people who work full-time. Casuals,part-timers, apprentices and trainees can all join their industry union.

In some industries the majority of employees are members. Unions are run by people elected by the members. Unions come in many sizes, some with over 220,000 members – some with only 22 members!

What do I do if I want to join a union?
Any worker - part-time, full-time, casual, temporary or contract - can join a union. All you have to do is find out which union you are eligible to join and contact them about
membership information. There are different unions for different industries - call UnionsACT on 02 6247 7844 if you need assistance finding the right one.