trade union coverage in Australia
Topic: The decline in trade union coverage in Australia from one half of the workforce in the 1980s to less than one fifth in the 2010s suggests that unions are no longer relevant to workers today
"The decline in trade union coverage in Australia from one half of the workforce in the 1980s to less than one fifth in the 2010s suggests that unions are no longer relevant to workers today?. Discuss.
SUGGESTED APPROACH
You should structure your essay along the following lines:
1. Establish that trade union coverage has been in decline since the early 1980s: provide the evidence for this assertion. [Briefly].
2. What are some of the factors that have been suggested by authors and other commentators as being responsible for this decline? Be sure to reference properly here. [about one half of the word length]
3. In your view, which of these are the most significant in explaining the decline? Provide evidence that justifies your judgement on this score. [about one third of the word length]
4. Based on this judgement, in your view, do workers no longer value the benefits offered by trade unionism and are unions therefore becoming irrelevant? Provide evidence that justifies your judgement on this score. [about one sixth of the word length].
Please note that the essay is asking you to discuss the Australian situation. You may find references relating to comparable countries (e.g. New Zealand, North America, Western Europe) that you feel have something valuable to contribute to understanding the Australian situation. By all means use them, but ensure that you bring the discussion back to the Australian situation. The essay is not asking you to discuss union decline in e.g. the USA!
Start by reading the discussion of union decline and the various reasons that have been advanced to explain this decline, in pp. 232-40 of the textbook (and Chapter 7 more generally), slides 31-39 in Lecture 5 notes and the readings for Tutorial 5, and then work from there. If you have time, you could also read Chapters 5 to 9 of my book Trade Unionism in Australia: A History from Flood to Ebb Tide, Cambridge University Press (2008). It would also be worth reading this interview with Ged Kearney, ACTU president, including the comments section, albeit note that this is not an academic source: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/7/12/automotive/kgb-actus-ged-kearney
You should also refer to the General Guidance section of this Assignment Advice for ideas on how to source other materials on the UQ Library databases.
INFORMATION
The marking criteria as set out in the course profile are as follows.
Does the essay answer the question? Basics include:
? Demonstrated understanding of the question.
? Clear structure of essay (with relevant introduction, body of argument, and conclusion, plus appropriate use of paragraphs and ?sign-posts?).
? Intelligent marshalling of evidence and data to make an argument (together with a brief consideration of alternative interpretations of the data where relevant).
? Clear grammar and presentation.
In relation to the last point, if you know from past experience that your English grammar and expression is not as good as it might be, steps you may wish to take with your essay include:
a) read it through out loud at least once;
b) get a friend to read it through for you, preferably someone whose expression and grammar are at least as good as yours;
c) do a grammar check through MS Word.
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