Australian Workers Union Intensive recruitment campaign commences...

[Qld IR Consultant]

In a recent article on the Australian Workers Union website, Paul Howes, National Secretary of the Australian Workers Union, has described the May intensive organising campaign as "showing that the AWU has a dynamic organising culture, and is able to lead the way in bringing new people into the union movement". He also goes on to say that "organising across a wide range of industries is reflecting the breadth of the unions coverage".

There is no doubting that the AWU is the biggest union in the country, but given their rules allow them to represent almost any employee in any industry in the country, its not surprising. The AWU, like any other union, always fails to accurately portray membership figures to the public, and indeed to their own members sometimes, but they would be suffering from membership bleed due to retirements, redundancy, dissatisfaction and bad debt.

In a recent article also, Paul Howes had to defend his unions incredible growth and mystical figures as an "accounting error". So what can you believe?

Is the AWU experiencing a surge in membership which will allow them or ramp up industrial campaigns to force unrealistic wages and conditions claims onto employers?

Or, is Paul Howes and the AWU suffering from a drop in credibility so they need to "diddle the books"?

It is no secret that the AWU has had a long running war with the CFMEU and CEPU for membership numbers in a variety of blue collar industries, but I am yet to see those particular unions come out in the media claiming outstanding growth due to intensive organising campaigns.

It is my personal experience that the AWU is the most loathed union within the movement. They are not affiliated with the unions controlling bodies (QCU etc), therefore do not prescribed to the controlled methods of aggression. They portray themselves to prospective members as being the "lone guns", ready to jump to their defence at a moments notice. To say this is far from the truth in most industries would be an understatement.

All this aside, the AWU remain, through strategic labor party factional positioning, the strongest political union in the country. It was the AWU faction that ousted Kevin Rudd. Wayne Swan is a card carrying AWU member. The list goes on.......

Never forget the influence that unions exert over the labor party, particularly now they are in government.

No employers should fear the AWU at all, but all employers should be prepared. Their impact on your business can be mitigated. You just need to be taught how.