Trade Unions in Australia: Who Runs Them, Who Belongs - Their Politics, Their Power

ARE TRADE UNIONS EXCEPTIONALLY AGGRESSIVE? ARE THEY VERY POWERFUL? AN IMAGEOF AGGRESSIVE TRADEUNIONS IS PROJECTED THROUGH THE NEWS MEDIA. UNIONS ARE SEEN TO BE CONTINUALLY DEMANDING OR REJECTING, PROTESTING NOISILY OR ON STRIKE. THE IMPRESSION THEY ARE POWERFUL COMES FROM THEIR SIZE THEIR CLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH POLITICS, AND THEIR USE OF STRIKES. YET WHILE TRADE UNIONS ARE OFTEN IN THE NEWS, THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY UNDERSTOOD. IN THIS REVISED EDITION PROFESSOR ROSS MARTIN HAS WRITTEN A CRISP AND STRAIGHTFORWARD SURVEY OF CONTEMPORARY TRADE UNIONS: THEIR PAST; HOW THEY ARE ORGANIZED AND RUN; THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS WITHIN A CONSTRAINING LEGAL FRAME- WORK; AND FINALLY AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR REAL CHARACTER. CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, HE ARGUES THAT THEY ARE IN FACT DEPENDENT INSTITUTIONS, REACTING TO EVENTS, RATHER THAN SHAPING THEM.