Deck 6: Employee Representation: Unions

Question 1

Briefly describe the difference between the optimistic and pessimistic approaches to the role of unions within the Marxist perspective.

Answer 1

Optimistic: The role of unions in the revolution is to perform the proactive role of educating workers in the 'evils' of capitalism and training them in the tactics of collective action
Pessimistic: Unions are an impediment to the revolution because union leaders too often cooperate with employers to placate workers and frustrate revolutionary consciousness.

Question 2

Give five explanations for declining union membership.

Answer 2

Attitudes towards unions
Occupational and industry factors
Role of management
Government policies
Union structures and activity.

Question 3

What is the 'collective voice/institutional response' face of unions?

Answer 3

This face or aspect of unions refers to a union's role in communicating to employers the concerns of employees about their employment conditions, allowing employers to remedy the problem. This consequently improves relations between employees and managers.

Question 4

Three strategies associated with union renewal are:

A) disamalgamation, organising and increasing female participation.
B) disamalgamation, servicing and increasing female participation.
C) amalgamation, servicing and increasing female participation.
D) amalgamation, organising and increasing female participation.

Question 5

Freeman and Medoff (1984) identify two 'faces' of unionism. These are:

A) the monopoly face and the collective voice face.
B) the monopoly face and the individual voice face.
C) the representative face and the collective voice face.
D) the monopoly face and the duopoly face.

Question 6

'The dramatic decline in union density in recent years demonstrates that unions are not relevant to modern workers.' Discuss.

Question 7

List and briefly identify the membership base of four types of unions.

Question 8

In addition to affiliation with political parties, how do unions pursue political objectives?

Question 9

Describe the two forms of non-union representation.

Question 10

List the reasons frequently given for the female representation gap in Australian unions.

Question 11

What external affiliations and alliances might unions join outside the workplace level?

A) Industry groups or federations
B) Regional and state labour councils
C) The ACTU
D) All of the options given here are correct

Question 12

Trade unions provide a means for employees to:

A) influence their terms and conditions of work.
B) All of the options given here are correct
C) influence the process and practices employed in their workplace.
D) regulate the employment relationship.

Question 13

What were the four main planks of the 'organising approach'?

Question 14

Explain the 'monopoly face' of unions.

Question 15

An example of a craft union is:

A) the Finance Sector Union.
B) the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association.
C) the Commonwealth Bank Officers Association.
D) the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union.

Question 16

What is the difference between 'rank-and-file' representatives and full-time officials of unions?

Question 17

Describe two categories of union representation.

Question 18

Briefly describe what unions do.

Question 19

Beatrice and Sydney Webb defined a trade union as:

A) a continuous association of tradespeople for the purpose of political lobbying.
B) a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment.
C) a continuous association of employers for the purpose of improving working conditions within a given trade.
D) None of the options given here is correct

Question 20

What membership base would a general/conglomerate union have?

A) All workers, irrespective of occupation or industry
B) Workers in the same industry, irrespective of occupation
C) Workers in the same company, irrespective of occupation
D) Workers in the same occupation, irrespective of industry

Question 21

Identify the main union structures and policies that contributed to the decline in union membership.

Question 22

List a change made by the state that contributed to the decline in union membership.

Question 23

Identify and discuss how unions could increase female participation and bolster female representation in official union positions.

Question 24

List the three reasons identified by Barrett and Buttigieg (1999) for low rates of unionisation in small workplaces.

Question 25

What were the two powerful forces set in motion by the 1850s gold rush and how did they affect the rise of unionism in Australia?

Question 26

What was the central issue in the disputes lost by unions in the early 1890s, and what did they learn from this experience?