History has always been important for the labour movement in defining its identity. Partly of this reason the institutions of the labour movement have placed great emphasis on recording their participation in labour history.

It is commonly assumed that the ACTU is the most important peak union council in Australia, since it is a national body, which has had no serious rivals for fourteen years.

Australan unionism built upon strong foundations transported from Britain. Subsequently it grew beyond this base in scope and form. By 1980 the level of unionisation of the colonial workforce exceeded that in the mother country.

This paper examines the effect on industry output of union density both conceptually and empirically in the case of the Australian Building and Construction Industry.

The role of the state is traditionally considered to have been critical in assiting rapid trade union membership growth in Australia in the early 1990s and in the USA from 1935 to 1945, through the introduciton of the compulsory state arbitration system in Australia and the enforcement...