@ISIDEWITHQuestionseconomyStarted 11yrs agoActive 2wks 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 53.9k 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
2%
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 53.9k Australia voters.

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Trend of how important this issue is for 53.9k Australia voters.

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Other Popular Answers

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

 @B2GPGNCfrom Guam  answered…3mos3MO

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.

 @B4D8JNJanswered…2wks2W

Unions help is heavily restricted. Companies shouldn't be able to fund unions that supposedly support their workers. Eg Coles and SDA. Also found out Fair Work Commission isn't very fair!

 @B4BSKMWanswered…2wks2W

Depends on the circumstances, they can hinder more than help, but can fight for better wages for the working class, I think we need them, but need to weed out the corrupted ones!

 @B4BQW7Fanswered…2wks2W

Hurt but only because corporations versus profit above all else. But this is an acceptable, nay crucial, cost.

 @B493N5Panswered…3wks3W

one can not judge all Unions on the behaviour of a few so we should ban all who are found legally guilty of crimes and they should not be allowed to make political donations and should be shut down while those doing what they where originally set up for should be left to do the good work they are doing

 @B493FQZanswered…3wks3W

Trade Unions hurt the economy, because they create price floors, but help people within them. I still support them I just don't really care about the overall economy.

 @B4924V2answered…3wks3W

I care more about helping people than helping the economy, a made up system invented as a control measure.

 @B44FK95answered…4wks4W

Hurt. Constant pressure on businesses to increase wages given to employees hurts Casual workers who end up with higher wages but receive less rostered hours as a consequence.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…5mos5MO

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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