Unions are considering a push into new areas, offering online campaigning and basic services that would cost workers $1 to $2 a week, under a radical plan to rebuild membership density.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver says unions need to adopt "radical thinking" when it comes to union mergers and alternative membership models, citing his AFL club's "seven different types of membership" as one potential template.
The AMWU is experiencing membership losses that threaten its future, according to a confidential review of the union led by former ACTU secretary Greg Combet.
The impact on public sector bargaining of the implied constitutional limitation on Commonwealth interference with state governments is still not well enough understood, according to long-serving CPSU Victoria secretary Karen Batt.
Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten has today confirmed that he has asked ALP national secretary George Wright to work with Labor's national executive to remove union membership as a prerequisite for party membership.
One of the largest left-wing unions, United Voice, faces a major shake-up after national secretary Louise Tarrant and national president Michael Crosby flagged they won't stand for re-election later this year.
A firebrand ex-leader of the meatworkers' union, Wally Curran, has died in Melbourne, rekindling memories of his famous falling out with former ACTU president and future Labor prime minister, Bob Hawke.
Flagging new strategies to give workers a collective voice, ACTU assistant secretary Tim Lyons has rejected recent calls for an "accommodation" with employers and told unions not to be afraid of conflict and controversy.
