a
laurie
"Australian" Manufacturers go overseas to get their products made due to the greed of Union backed labourers charging exorbitant wages to make their products. One only has to take note of the closures of Ford and Holden and recently the withdrawal of Toyota manufacturing their products in Australia due to the high cost of making their products. My sister in law is a delegate for the Australian Manufacturers Workers Union and you only have to see the rorts that she receives to 'fight for the workers rights' to understand why we are in the poo poo as a manufacturing powerhouse.
As a former delegate (almost 20 years ago) for the same union you mentioned, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I was a young lad who had just completed my apprenticeship, and was elected by my peers to represent them. No one wanted to do it so I thought I'll put my hand up. I thought being in the union would secure 'my future'. In the next few years I got an inside on how these union's really operate. Long story short, I have not been part of any union in the last 12 years in a union dominated industry.
BTW, why is it that Australian unions are all full of Pom's? Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English seem to be the majority, from the delegate to the Chairman?? It seems that other than the simple worker who's a member, the unions are almost entirely run by folks who are from the UK!