Not unpopular enough to do any damage in the latest opinion poll. AC Nielsen shows a 57/43 tpp and a 48/39 primary lead for Labor. Virtually unchanged.

And now, twenty years later, with no major problems coming from unions, including during the previous Labor government, what possible reason could people have to hate unions or at least think that they are bad?

Because we’re all shareholders now. Blame Keating for that one.

Recently Newcastle was effected by a very bad weather event,and apart from emergency service people and others like that ,electricians or linesmen were called onto the scene.Emergency service people come from all sorts of backgrounds and the humble and helpful electricians came from interstate.Is Mighell so bad!

Contrast this sacrifice to big business insurance companies, who are refusing to pay 75% of water damage claims in the storm ravaged areas because they are arguing the pedantics between “storm water damage” and “flood water damage”.

The example I read was of the emergency and service workers spending long hours helping people in need, paid workers doing much unpaid overtime without a single complaint, then getting back to their places of business/work to find them devastated and having to clean up that damage, then to go home to find that damaged, only to find the next day the big insurance companies won’t pay because they consider storm water damage to be different to flood water damage.

So why are unions demonised by Howard, yet he always makes excuses for insurance, banking and petrol companies, who have no hesitation in ripping off the people?

“By the way, the response to the question about unions having too much power under a Rudd government cited at the start of this piece was: agree 38 per cent, disagree 53 per cent, don’t know 9 per cent.”

The polls might be closing a bit but I don’t know whether it has anything to do with the government raising the spectre of union power. When you look at the last couple of months of polling in the context of Australian political history, there was really only one way they could go, and that is back towards the government. How far they will go is the question I guess.

… most trade union members agreed with the following two statements:
- Trade unions have too much power
- My trade union doesn’t have enough power at my workplace.

I can’t find a survey that asked the second question, but the ASSDA survey shows the proportion of people who agreed with the first statement:

1987: 70.5%
1996: 61.8%
2001: 47.6%
2003: 43.9%

And thanks, Robert, for the info on the later ACIRRT surveys. I had a feeling there were some, but couldn’t find anything on the web.

Your questions on the Matt Price blog were…well priceless.

I enjoy his take on things and find he usually contributes something different to the debate. However I could not believe his answer to your questions on the perception of unions.

Call me naive - but I honestly thought the political pundits did research, but it was clear from Matt’s response to you that they are mere regurgitators of corridor gossip and the daily talking points.

It felt like that moment in the movie, Truman Show, when he was joyously sailing to freedom and then hit the wall, realised the whole thing is a farce and the joke is on him. Absolutle shattered. Now I am just angry.

And now, twenty years later, with no major problems coming from unions, including during the previous Labor government, what possible reason could people have to hate unions or at least think that they are bad?

The answer of course is that this would only happen if they actually believe Howard’s demonisation of them, which is built on a stack of lies, misrepresentation, and exaggeration.

Someone should conduct a full survey of current attitudes to unions. I’m sure it would be very interesting.

But the question I find myself asking is: Why isn’t anyone talking up the BENEFITS of unions?

Labor doesn’t do it and even the ACTU doesn’t do it, at least not to the extent that they should. Somehow, Howard has been allowed to paint unions as militant, thuggish, power-hungry, un-Australian forces of evil. Why? Any thinking person can see that unions are nowhere near the threat that Howard claims and actually have many important benefits. After all, most other sectors of our community have their collectives, such as business councils, employer groups, and other societies and associations. Why can’t employees also gain a voice and some representation?

Labor are trying to distance themselves from unions and in so doing, they are legitimising Howard’s claims that they are bad. Otherwise, why else would Labor try to distance themselves? What I think that Labor needs to do is actually start pointing out some of the positives of unionism. They need to say that unions have a place in our society because some workers need representation, but Labor is about creating the fairest situation for both the employer and employee when it comes to negotiating working conditions. By speaking up for unions in a calm and reasonable manner, they will show Howard for the hysterical, fear-mongering fool that he is.

As long as they try to run away from unions, Labor are simply supporting Howard’s demonisation of unions.

I also think, as some of the surveys suggest, that people are not so anti-union as Howard is assuming. And since Workchoices, I suspect that many people have rediscovered the beneficial role that unions can play.

Howard only brought in Workchoices in order to destroy unions. His continued demonisation of them only supports the obvious hatred that he has for them. Australians are simply pawns in his political game-playing. Why doesn’t Labor point this out??? After all, right now, when Howard is running around bashing up on unions as much as he can, is a perfect time to point out Howard’s irrational hatred and the lengths he will go to destroy something, even if it means that a lot of Australians end up suffering in the process.

The answer I would have thought is obvious: in parliament they represent the people who elected them. Prior to their election they represented organisations to which millions of Australians choose to belong, at considerable personal cost. What other organisations in the country can claim anything like the same support? To anyone but a blinkered ideologue, trade unions have an important role to play in Australian society.

On the matter of community attitudes towards unions, I recall reading about research years ago which found that most trade union members agreed with the following two statements:
- Trade unions have too much power
- My trade union doesn’t have enough power at my workplace.

If people till hold these kinds of views it would explain why they could regard the presence of a union at their own workplace as a positive thing while still distrusting the faceless ‘unions’ in society at large.

Just how unpopular are the dreaded unions?

Extremely unpopular among the bourgeois mandarins of the parliamentary ALP.