Conference on Organized labour
Responses to the Conference Paper
Max Ogden
Industrial Officer, ACTU, Australia
17 September 1998
I have just seen your document listed on 10/9/98 with an invitation to contribute to the development of a follow up to the 97-98 World Labour Report.
I agree with the various headings you suggest and I would like to add a couple of more, but my experience both here and internationally, (I worked with the AFL-CIO at their headquarters for six months in '96 as an advisor on strategy, and have an ongoing role in some of their discussions) as well as many international conferences etc., suggests that the most urgent need is for a long term, coherent, co-ordinated strategy, that includes everything you suggest as well as some other things, and is practical and responsive to the members felt needs.
Most union movements, (unfortunately there are few exceptions), tackle their work in a fragmented way with little coherence, nor links between the short and long term objectives. It means establishing objectives such as democratic work and ownership structures, an idea of the kind of equitable society that is desirable etc., and link that to the practical day to day issues so one contributes to the other in an iterative process. One of the best examples of this and widely recognised as such internationally and here, was the ACTU 1987 Congress document "Australia Reconstructed". Instead of being a set of disparate policies as is usually the case, it set out six key areas and put forward a strategy that linked them all as an integral whole. For a period the union movement was the centre of discussion because it had set a visionary agenda, which required employers and many others to respond.
The six issues were : Wages and Working Conditions, Skills, Knowledge and Education, Industry Policy, Industrial Democracy, Social Welfare Policy, and Strategic Unionism. Things move on and unfortunately it has not been updated. Nevertheless the principle behind the document is as valid as ever, and something like this at an international level, but updated and including a number of new issues that are now prominent would be very valuable.
Apart from the issues you mention I would add two or three more:
* The role of pension/superannuation funds, and how unions can influence value added investment, and new democratic ownership patterns that contribute to the more equitable society unions aspire to. Workers/unionists money is now a major source of investment and yet it is often used against their own short and longterm interests. As Will Hutton pointed out in his book "The State We Are In" British pension funds are often the worst offenders in driving a destructive, short term agenda. This is a big challenge but increasingly every bit as important as traditional union issues because the direction of investment can make or break other union initiatives.
* Unions as co-managers and adding value in the Post-Fordist world. Unions
must increasingly intervene in management, as to leave managing to traditional managers will be irresponsible, given their record in many countries. This will also increasingly be a reason for unions' existence and having members in work places. As well as the traditional reasons of protecting workers, both the members and employers will be less resistant when unions demonstrate the contribution they make to competitiveness. In fact I have felt for sometime that there should be an international study to demonstrate the role of unions in improving efficiency.
* There probably needs to be something about technology, not as a thing in itself, which is unfortunately how we often respond to it, but the challenges it poses in jobs, skills etc., working time, and how it can be tackled as an integral part of the total strategy.
* Finally working time, and it's links to employment and quality of life, which is now starting to move to centre stage for many union movements, and how it should be tackled as an integral part of the overall strategy, and not as a thing in itself.
I hope these comments are helpful and look forward to assisting in anyway that might produce a visionary and agenda setting international union document/strategy.
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