ALTRAV,

There are Unions and there are Unions, some have made it policy to work closely with management, to the benefit of both.

Is Mise, I know this, obviously I speak of the bad ones. Even so unless there was a serious attack on the workers by management, there was still no need for unions.

The govt had it all laid out in law, so making the unions superfluous. I am responding to a commentors resistance to what I said regarding what the unions/labor party did during the war.

The act in question was to stop the supply ships leaving to re-stock the Aussies on the battlefield, with food, amo, and everything in between.

The wharfies treasonous acts of treachery were designed to give the enemy an advantage. Many Aussies died because of this action on the part of the unions, but some no-nuts on this forum dis-agrees because he doesn't want to hear of it, because he knows it's true.

My information is first hand and cannot be dismissed just because someone doesn't want to hear it.

This single most disgusting act is why the unions and the labor party should be removed from society altogether as they are the enemy and therefore not to be trusted, or accommodated.

Hi Issy, you surprise me, a card carrying union member. Even in the antagonistic days of the 1970's, when the "them and us" mentality was at its peak, time lossed to strikes was not all that great. I would say 2 to 3 days per year, per member. As a active member of the left wing Metal Workers Union, and a member of the Works Committee in an org of 3,000 all members of a number of different competing unions, negotiations were tough, and negotiators on both sides were tough men, not always willing to give an inch.
As for strikes, the men themselves were not all that willing to loose time over minor issues, yes we had our hot heads, but they were a minority, and easily outvoted when it came to the crunch. There were management instigated strikes as well. To give you an example one time when the works agreement was at a critical point of negotiation. a long time member with 20 years up, was caught asleep 5 minutes over time in the lunch room. The bloke was on a "doubler" (doing a double shift due to a breakdown, 16 hours straight). Gone for his meal break in the crib room, about 2am openly dozed off, a staff manager found him asleep 5 minutes over time. Woke the bloke up, as would be normal. Next day, its seems the "management" decided to exercise their right and sacked the bloke, never happened before. Of course they were using a minor indiscretion to bring on a strike during negations. That put 3,000 men on the grass for 48 hours, that lost time of 6,000 man days. In the end the works agreement was signed off, and of course the sacked sleepy worker reinstated with no loss of benefits. All part of the game.

The thing today which I totally support, and has improved industrial relations no end is the union/management negotiated work place agreement. They now work so smoothly that the need for belligerent strike action is all but gone.
Here in NSW we are looking at rail and bus strikes in not the too distant future. If such is the case the conservative media will play it up as unreasonable workers making an unreasonable pay demand. What we do have in the state is an incompetent transport minister, leading an incompetent management team. The public transport system is at breaking point. Just last week we had a melt down with the peak hour trains, unable to cope with the "new timetable" and "minor disruptions", and its not even back to maximum capacity after Xmas, that will come on the 27th. The Minister and his mates were at pains to hide the facts, from the public, but were exposed as knowing about a week in advance that major problems were heading their way, they failed to act. They tried to blame the workers, too many drives on holidays or off sick. They knew the numbers, and they knew they were going to be 60 train drivers short come Monday, they thought they could get away with it, and their reaction when it was too late was to cancel services. Shocking the minister should resign, he is a total incompetent. The buses are no better, with a shortage of drivers. My son is getting calls at 2am, can you start at 5am not 7am, can he do 12 hours, extra journeys, there is no drivers, all in a vain attempt to plug the rosters. My son is actually a trainer, but has to drive more because of staff shortages The fool Minister Andrew Constance, all he can think of is his philosophically driven agenda of so called "privatizing" public transport. Even members of his own Liberal Party think he is incompetent. But his right wing faction had the numbers to put him in.

cont

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p/s The 'Opal' system which cost a billion dollars, is loosing million in revenue through system failure. The Ministers excuse of teething problems is wearing thin.

Paul,

I was in the Australasian Society of Engineers and the later merged union.
When I first started work I was in the Australian Railways Union, at 15 I didn't have to join but it was a family tradition.

As for management induced strikes, Cockatoo Dockyard was often a prime example.
They had a contract with the Navy that allowed them extra time on jobs if there was a strike, time lost on strike plus time equivalent to the strike, so if a supplier or a sub-contractor let them know that there would be a hold up then a strike was very welcome.
Usual procedure was for a foreman to keep shifting someone who had a fiery temper from job to job, in the confines of a submarine.
About the third or fourth move and all that that entailed (shifting toolboxes and other gear), the worker would tell the foreman where to go and what convoluted exercise he could perform on himself.

The worker would be sacked for abusive, indecent language.

Hit the grass, via ferry!!

Two or three days to get before the Commissioner; ruling "Normal dockyard language, reinstate."

The dockyard gets three days for the strike plus three days extension on the contract.
A well oiled drill that always ran to script!