FED: Combet announces ACTU candidacy = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-20-1999
FED: Combet announces ACTU candidacy = 2

Mr Combet conceded unions had failed to move fast enough to halt the decline in union
membership.

In 1986, three years after Mr Kelty became secretary, 46 per cent of workers were in
unions.

This dropped to 31 per cent by 1996, and to 28 per cent by August last year.

Barely one in six teenagers are now in unions, lining up the Kelty years in office with the
massive drop in numbers.

Mr Combet said the focus of the report was to recruit new members in the areas where unions
had failed to market themselves, such as the services, technology, information technology,
hospitality and labour hire industries.

However, Mr Reith said the model was only making it easier for unions to tell members what
to do and contained no criticisms of the ACTU's past.

"How can you plan for the future without examining where you went wrong in the past," Mr
Reith said.

"It makes no mentions of ACTU failures like the move to super unions, the Accord, ... and
other fundamental issues vital to recognising where it has gone wrong.

"There is boasting about pay rises gained by the union movement, but these have only
occurred since reforms we put in place."

AAP ag/tsm/arb/br

KEYWORD: BLUEPRINT N/L 2 SYDNEY

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