The Community and Public Sector Union is a large Australian trade union with over 160,000 members in various occupations. It grew through mergers and organizing campaigns and offers benefits beyond collective bargaining, including discounts on travel, shopping, insurance, and legal services. Membership is restricted to those employed by an organization with a collective bargaining agreement. The union includes some private sector employees in addition to public sector employees.
The Community and Public Sector Union is an Australian union, the majority of whose members are employed by the federal government, one of the state or territory governments or one of their subsidiary organisations. The Community and Public Sector Union grew through organizing campaigns, expanding its jurisdiction, and merging or merging with other unions. Union membership is restricted to those employed by an organization with which the union has a collective bargaining agreement, and only if the job they do is covered by the contract. One of Australia’s largest trade unions, it claimed around 160,000 members in over 600 occupations across the country.
The merging process that resulted in the current Union and Public and Community Sector began in 1989, with the coming together of three unions in the fields of government and broadcasting to form the Public and Broadcasting Sector Union of Australia, the Australian Government Employment . This initial merger was followed by a series of similar mergers over the next five years, culminating in 1994 with the Union of Public Sector, Professional, Scientific Research, Technical, Communications, Aviation and Broadcasting joining with the State Federation of Public Services to form the CPSU, Community and Public Sector Union. This merger and consolidation process has united virtually all public sector unions in Australia, reflecting a long history of labor representation. Some of the constituent organizations made up of state bodies trace their histories back to the late 19th century.
Participation in the Union and the Union Public Sector offers a wide range of benefits beyond the traditional range of services and resources included in the collective bargaining arena. For example, travel and shopping discounts are included in membership, as are several insurance programs. Members can also access discounted financial and legal services. These discounts are generally funded by service providers in exchange for the Union’s nomination of members, and not subsidized by membership dues. The existence of these programs is a relatively recent phenomenon in collective bargaining organizations and reflects a need to retain members with incentives beyond the traditional benefits of collective bargaining, which are taken for granted by many.
Member dues are based on their annual salary but must be paid directly; that is, automatic deduction of dues from members’ salaries is not permitted. While members pay monthly fees, discounts of up to 10% are available for those who pay quarterly, semi-annually or annually.
The inclusion of bargaining units composed of some private sector employees in a national union composed mainly of public sector employees is an interesting anomaly in organized labor. In some cases these irregularities are the result of logistical oddities in the past where some private sector employees wanted to form a union but the only union in the area was the public sector union. These agreements sometimes date back decades. In other cases, a small private sector union may be struggling financially and needs to merge to survive, and the public sector union agrees to provide a financial safe haven.
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