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UNIONS - Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)
29 May 2009
 If you're working and you're a member of a union, then there's a good chance your union is a member of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, otherwise known as the ACTU. The ACTU is the peak organisation representing unions nationally in Australia and internationally around the world.
The ACTU has been around for 82 years, having first been established in Melbourne in 1927 when the State unions recognised the need for a national organisation to represent the interests of the union movement.
Today the ACTU is made up of 46 unions and represents around 2 million Australian workers, which is around 20% of the full-time workforce.
There is a branch of the ACTU in each state and territory of Australia. These are Unions NSW, Unions ACT, Unions NT, Unions Tasmania, SA Unions, Unions WA and Victorian Trades Hall Council.
46 unions - how do you get them all to agree? ACTU policies and decisions are made in a very democratic way. Involved in the process are:
ACTU Executive: The Executive includes ACTU officers, a representative from every union that has more than 8,000 members, a youth representative, an indigenous Australian representative and additional women representatives (if required to ensure that 50 per cent of the Executive are women); and
ACTU Congress: Congress meets every year and involves about 800 people representing every union that belongs to the ACTU.
The ACTU supports:
- The right to bargain collectively
- Protection from unfair dismissal
- The right to be represented by a union
- The right to better pay and conditions
- The right to have a say in their workplace
Since its establishment, the ACTU has fronted many workplace struggles to bring about industrial victories such as safer workplaces, wage increases through award system campaigns, greater equality for women, improvements to working hours, enhanced working conditions, and the establishment of a universal superannuation system.
Current ACTU campaigns include minimum wages, OHS laws and paid maternity leave. For more information visit the ACTU website.
The current president of the ACTU is Gerardine (Ged) Kearney. Past presidents include Shrran Burrow, Bob Hawke, Simon Crean, Jennie George, and Martin Ferguson.
RELATED WORKSITE LINKS UNIONS - What is a union?
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