Summary the article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Summary the article - Essay Example conclusion, notes and references with details of writers, Keywords used in the study include bargaining agency fees, free riding, trade union membership and union joining. Free riding has been a contentious issue in Australian industrial relations. 51.7 % employees are considered as deliberately free riding. Implications of findings for union renewal have been discussed in the study. Large numbers of Australian workers take a free ride on union membership gaining the benefits of union coverage without paying costs of provision. Unionists view this as unfair. The study discusses free riding in detail, explains methods used for survey and discusses implications for public policy and union strategy. Unions cannot provide services free of cost but at the same time cannot afford to loose members. Free riding is important issue since it deprives unions of financial resources that could be used for organizing and power resources that could be used at the bargaining table and in the political arena. Data gathered helps to test whether benefits motivate people to join unions or not. The study differentiates between true free riders and induced riders. In USA, free riding is covered by union contracts. Cases in USA, Britain and New Zealand have been discussed as empirical studies. There are varieties of motivations for employees for joining or not joining unions basing on demography and worker characteristics. In Australia, free riding has increased from 1930s to 1990s due to decline in compulsory membership. In1990 agency fee of AUS $ 500 was increased from 300. It was imposed by ETU, and contributed a lot towards free riding. In 2001, fees were challenged but AIRC rejected the chall enge. In 2003, compulsory fees were outlawed under Act 2003 passed by Liberal National Government. Data used is based on AWRPS 2004, which surveyed 1000 Australian workers. Computer assisted telephone interviews were conducted from October