ustralia and the Commonwealth Employment Service, which emphasises that the long perceived thought that unions are opponents of employees, is not so. The program is proving popular with its easily accessible information on jobs, starting salaries, minimum pay rates and the unions that represent people in various occupations (Healey, 1995).Most current of the recruitment campaigns is the ACTUs Unions at Work. Launched February 2000, it differs little from past campaigns in that millions of dollars have been spent on high profile advertising and to put up a squad of young go-getters into the field to drum up business. Workers were offered all kinds of incentives and gimmicks, including access to a range of discounted retail goods and cheap holidays (Cook, 2000).All these incentives are a clear indication that the union movement is heeding the message of its leaders that it must become less inward looking and more community focused if the decline in membership is to be turned around. But the question remains, especially with the release of current ABS membership figures, whether or not the employees of todays workforce see the need for them.It is no doubt that the battles fought to achieve fairer pay systems and working conditions for employees was won by unions. But in this day and age of enterprise bargaining and growing workplace diversity, it seems the working public are finding unions to be less and less useful. It would be difficult to make an opinion as to what is needed by the unions to increase membership, but a positive relationship between employees, employers and the government is the right step towards some harmony. Unions must realise that if they are to be efficient then they need to be responsive to members needs. Emphasis should be placed on improving the quality of core services and not adding new ones. No amount of financial planning services or cheap airfares will generate member satisfaction if members calls to organis...
