@ISIDEWITHQuestionseconomyStarted 10yrs agoActive 3 days ago

Do you believe labor unions help or hurt the economy?

Do you believe trade unions help or hurt the economy?

Since 1996 Union membership in Australia has dropped from 40% of all workers to 15%. Unions bargain on behalf of workers over wages, benefits, working conditions for their membership. Larger unions also typically engage in lobbying activities and electioneering at the state and federal level.

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Answer Overview

Response rates from 48.9k Australia voters.

74%
Help
26%
Hurt
51%
Help
24%
Hurt
14%
Help, in theory but have recently become corrupt and should have their powers limited
3%
Hurt, I support some private unions but am strongly against public unions
9%
Help, but ban their ability to make political donations

Historical Support

Trend of support over time for each answer from 48.9k Australia voters.

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Trend of how important this issue is for 48.9k Australia voters.

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Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from Australia voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @B2GPGNCfrom Guam  answered…2mos2MO

Help, but there must be regulations to prevent corruption and overreach. A union must only strive for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Without helping the workers, there will be no economy at all.

 @B3QG99Yanswered…3 days3D

Workers do need advocacy, as there are employers who can be unscrupulous. But that's a two-way street, good-faith employers need protection from workers who would seek to take advantage and game the system, even using trade-unions to do so. The unions are a necessary evil, but the system needs serious reform.

 @B3PCCBRanswered…4 days4D

Help. Unions need to be democratized and need more say in government, private companies have much more say in government than unions do.

 @B35DK7Ganswered…3wks3W

Depends. Corruption should be screened so mafia style mob bosses are not able to thrive. If trades are standing up against the government to support Australians, like the farmers then yes they should have all rights.

 @B2YG9YManswered…4wks4W

Hurt but are still important and necessary to hold the checks and balances for the employee to the employer. If it hurts the economy then companies need to treat their workers better.

 @B2MN3M8answered…1mo1MO

Trade Unions have a role to play in industrial relations that can both hurt and help the economy depending on the circumstancess

 @B2FW4JXanswered…2mos2MO

Mixed bag on my stance, some good some bad. Also, I feel none of the options provided are fair and balanced

 @9VJBDL3answered…5mos5MO

Hurt, but they have the potential to help. Also ban political donations and they need to be held accountable for illegal activity AND major economic damage.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…3mos3MO

Volkswagen Faces Explosive Strikes Over Plant Closures and Job Cuts

Tens of thousands of Volkswagen workers will participate Monday in strikes at plants across Germany, labor union IG Metall said, marking the largest walkouts at the carmaker’s domestic operations since 2018.The walkouts, which are planned to last several hours, follow weeks of collective bargaining negotiations during which VW refused to rule out mass layoffs and potential plant closures in its home market — drastic measures the company says are necessary to prop up its fortunes amid competition from China and weaker European demand.A so-called “peace obligation” between workers and the company, which prohibited industrial action, expired on Saturday, allowing strikes to take place from Sunday at virtually all of Volkswagen’s German factories.“If necessary, this will become the toughest wage dispute Volkswagen has ever seen,” IG Metall’s chief negotiator Thorsten Groeger said in a statement Sunday. “How long and intense this dispute will be is Volkswagen’s responsibility at the negotiating table.”“Volkswagen has set our collective bargaining agreements on fire, and instead of extinguishing this fire during three rounds of negotiations, the management board keeps throwing open barrels of gasoline onto it,” he added.The walkouts will be the first large-scale strikes that Volkswagen has faced since 2018, according to IG Metall, when 50,000 workers idled plants over pay. Although the work stoppages will last only a few hours, it is possible that 24-hour warning strikes could be called later this year. Indefinite strikes could also be called as a last resort, but only after members have been consulted again, IG Metall said.The strikes represent a fresh headache for Europe’s largest automaker, which saw operating profit for the first nine months of the year tumble by a fifth from the previous year, as its flagship brand struggled. Vehicle sales also slipped on particularly weak demand in China, where it is losing market share to Chinese electric vehicle brands.

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