The falacy of union leadership

Australian trade unions are decrying the royal commission into trade union corruption, this is, of course, of grievest concern to past and present trade union leaders. The royal commission will examine methodology and tactics individuals utilise when they misuse their privileged role as trade union officials for political advancement and self-enrichment. 

When a trade union official gouges funds from a business enterprise; this occurs because the business enterprise is purchasing a commodity of value to the business, it could be industrial harmony, prevention of strike action or work to rule, hindrance, industrial espionage, willful destruction, theft, bullying, harassment, intimidation and actual violence. As the self-elected custodians of employee rights, union officials have just two products to sell - employee rights or political assistance.

Union officials must be subject to stricter supervision and greater regulation than company directors. After all, the company director represents the interests of the organisation; should that director act in a manner that is contrary to the interests of the organisation, the director is held personally culpable. The director has to prepare annual reports and lodge to the Australian Securities and & Investments Commission (ASIC); the accounts are prepared by registered accountants and reviewed by auditors.  

A trade union is the recipient of funds gained from members, that is employees paying fees derived through their employment (usually a percentage these days); strict financial management including a general ledger (recording revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities), cash records, debtor and sales records, inventory records, investment records and wage & superannuation liabilities. Trade unions don't pay tax, a ruling by the Australian Taxation Office means trade unions are flush with cash and reduced responsibilities.    

The well worn political narrative sold to workers is Labor party is the protector of the worker while the Liberal party is the voice of big business, any neutral observer can see this no longer applies. Trade unions have traditionally relied on confusing worker's rights with union rights - the union pitch is we fight for your rights; therefore, if union rights are curtailed, then worker rights and privileges are under attack. 

What really happens is when union membership is reduced, union influence is curtailed - hence the huge fight to maintain compulsory union membership on industrial work sites. I still recall the days of NO TICKET - NO START, you were not allowed to even set foot on the work site without current union membership, you had to produce the ticket on demand, hence my required union membership back in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Trade union leaders repeatedly cast the Liberal party as the protector of big business; however, trade unions negotiate regularly with big business, not small business enterprises that have little to no union membership. 

It is of particular irony that the Liberal party is aligned to small business while the Labor party is aligned to big business. Labor may soon be recast as the party big business while the Liberal party may be recast as the party of the ordinary worker - who would have thought?