Campaigns to win with
For the last two and a half decades of neo-liberal attacks, the Australian trade union movement has been under siege from the bosses and their politicians. On the principle that the best form of defence is to go on the offensive, three campaigns, in particular, can pave the way forward for the workers' movement.
Support pattern bargaining
The construction and manufacturing unions in Victoria are pursuing industry-wide agreements. This points the way for stronger collective campaigning on wages and conditions. Compulsory arbitration and laws against industrial action, which restrict collective campaigning, also need to be fought.
For a 35-hour week without loss in pay
This is ACTU policy, although you wouldn't know it. A shorter working week would share the work around, reducing unemployment. It would undercut the government's program to "churn" people through insecure, poorly paid jobs. A campaign that allies workers in and out of work through demanding shorter hours and more jobs is a step towards the unions taking part in all the struggles to improve the life of working people and the poor.
Rebuild the unions through union democracy and independence from the ALP
The ACTU's Unions@work quite correctly says union membership and activism needs to be rebuilt in workplaces. But if officials, aligned with the ALP, set the framework for workplace union activity, the rebuilding cannot be sustained. The members must control the whole union through frequent meetings which determine union policy and campaigns. Through this, workers will, from their own experience and in their own interest, learn to combat the profit-driven corporate agenda.