Organizer’s Roles Transformed? Australian Union Organizers and Changing Union Strategy

By David Peetz, Barbara Pocock and Chris Houghton

Progress has been made towards more "organizing" approaches to the work of organizers in Australian trade unions.

However few resources are devoted to "growth" and organizers are still spending relatively large amounts of time on grievance resolution and relatively small amounts of time developing a delegate infrastructure. There seem to be some advantages in recruiting former community and student activists. The attitude of the leadership of the union is crucial for the success of the organizing role.

(Journal of Industrial Relations; vol. 49, no 2, April 2007)