Jennie George ACTU President I have been asked to talk on this panel, which is dealing with reconciliation in the community, about the more specific area of reconciliation in industry. I will do so from a worker's perspective and from a trade union perspective.
Trade unions are organisations that have been created to protect workers' rights at work.
They were established as a direct response to the exploitation and unfair treatment of workers in their working lives. Unions are also collective organisations committed to using collective negotiating strength to achieve common outcomes for all workers, both weak and strong. As such, unions have needed a strong commitment to consultation and collective decision-making. This means that unions, by their very nature, have an affinity for both the struggles of Indigenous peoples to achieve justice and self determination. This is not to say that unions have always understood and supported the aspirations of Australia's Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander peoples.