Trade union or also called Labour union is an association of labourers in a particular
trade, industry, or plant, formed to obtain by collective action improvements in pay,
working conditions, and social and political status. Even with more workplace
agreements in force in our modern Australian environment, unions are stilled needed to
serve many other purposes. With more workplace agreements, many of them could
overlap with some of the purposes of a union. But as many agreements as there can be,
there will be problems or situations that an employer and employee will not agree on.
Therefore unions would still be utilised for support and security of the employee.
Trade unions have an existence to improve and protect the conditions under which their
members work. Before Unions existed many Australian employees worked more than 60
hours as their normal working week. The first annual holiday was achieved by a strong
union campaign in 1941, which was awarded to employees as a one week off from work.
Unions are organisations of employed workers formed to undertake collective bargaining
with employers and try to achieve improved working conditions for its members. The
Queensland Council of Unions has a major function in representing affiliated unions on
a substantial range of industry, training and community organisations, some of which
- Metropolitan Urban Transport Committee
- VETEC (Vocational Education Training and Employment Commission) State
Planning and Development Council
- Sunsuper Pty Ltd (superannuation)
- State Public Sector Superannuation Scheme
- Office of Economic Development for the City of Brisbane
- Advisory Committee on Employment Equity
- Portable Long Service Leave Board
- Queensland Health Promotion in the Workplace Committee
- Aboriginal Employment Development Policy Committee
...