As recently as the early 1990s, 40% of Australian workers were union members. While there was a slight increase in 2024 – the first in a decade – that membership is now at 13.1%.
This decline has been used to argue unions have become less important in Australians’ lives.
Although some unions have recently made headlines for the wrong reasons, including allegations of corruption, bullying and violence, others – such as the Transport Workers Union (TWU) – have scored surprisingly big wins.
