Union Democracy in Australia: Accommodation and Resistance

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Abstract
The academic debate about union democracy in Australia is limited and is largely focused on the internal affairs and arrangements of unions. This attention is consistent with the circumstances that Australia's unions are more extensively regulated by legislation than most other comparable union movements. It is argued that this degree of regulation has provided a powerful impetus toward the centralizing tendencies of unions in contemporary capitalist societies. But to leave the argument at this level is to lose sight of the purpose of trade unions as class organizations. Through a consideration of selected unions and disputes it is argued that, although unions are subject to considerable pressures toward constraint and control, oppositional forms of trade unionism have emerged, albeit to a limited extent. It is on the basis of this analysis that the argument is made that union democracy should be a major issue for most unions. To realize union democracy it is necessary for unions to be organized and structured in collective ways. This, however. does not mean that union democracy is inevitable; it means that union democracy is a possibility that can only be achieved through union practice.

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