Working people need strong unions. We must become better at campaigning, we must build our media capacity and market the union message. We must form new and stronger alliances with other groups in the community and build stronger links with international unions. We know there is a lot of support for unions in the community. We know that Australians believe in unions.
People sometimes lose sight of the important role that unions play in our society.
Union members are much more likely to have better working conditions and receive wage rises more often. Unions have helped establish superannuation and they provide valuable services to individual members - such as legal and workers' compensation assistance and reinstatement for workers who have been unfairly dismissed. The report recommends some key initiatives for Australian unions to take up. The five union leaders that accompanied me on the ACTU delegation have already announced measures to ensure a plan for growth in their unions.