Commentaries: The State of the Unions

Abstract

"Man was born free, yet everywhere lives in chains" - this is the well-known opening sentence of Rousseau's Social contract. Trade unions in New Zealand present us with a similar paradox, though unfortunately I lack Rousseau's ability to express this in a dramatic form suitable for dictionaries of quotations. The paradox is that trade unions are among the most unpopular institutions in New Zealand, yet the number of unionists keeps increasing. This is by no means due entirely to compulsion : voluntary unions, such as the Public Service Association, have grown at a faster rate than unions where membershlp is compulsory, and new unions have been formed voluntarily by people in previously unorganised occupations, such as production supervisors, technicians and professional engineers. There was even a union of sauna and massage employees in the late 1970s but it collapsed, perhaps because the members did not wish to be covered by awards and preferred the bare minimutn.