Communities of Unionism: Education, the Working Young and the Labour Movement

By Carla Lipsig-Mummé and Ingrid Nielsen

The ability of trade unions in developed countries to attract young people to membership during this long wave of union decline is both a crucial element of trade union rejuvenation and a pivotal test of trade union representivity.

There is evidence that the Australian labour movement is aware of the centrality of recruiting the young, as well as the fact that since the mid 1980s the young continue to decline as a proportion of the unionised. This paper is part of a research project on the working young and the future of unions, begun in Canada in the late 1990s. The authors argue that the relationship between work and education has changed fundamentally for young people. They look at how unions are framing the problem and what strategic responses are being implemented and what else needs to be done.