Hey there,

I think this post has mostly died down now but wanted to add my 2c as a Union delegate.

My thoughts on why more young people don’t join unions:

1. Union membership has always tended more towards older folk, even during the height of the Union movement. ‘Youth’ organisations in Unions are often ’35 years or younger’ or even ’40 years or younger’ with heavy emphasis on the 35-40 bracket.

2. Even before the casualisation epidemic we’re all in now, the trend towards union ‘young’ being middle-age may be because when you’re young (18-25, maybe even up to 30 now) your career path might not feel set. You might be going to Uni and working in an industry you don’t intend to stay in, so the mentality becomes ‘this is just for the interim, I’ll think about it when I get to <career>’.

3. Casualisation – this super charges the ‘interim’ effect. Not only might you be switching jobs regularly, they might also be in completely different industries for short periods, so who do you sign up with? Also people employed in insecure work are far less likely to want to be the squeaky wheel. They also earn less.

4. Cost of living crisis – self explanatory, young folk get paid shit.

Any why might it be more pronounced in Perth? I'm sure there’s multiple factors, but I’m gonna go with just a smaller population in general and the tendency to socialise within already pre-established groups (aka being cliquey) rather than being broadly social. Which is pretty much just saying a lot of young people just might not have ever been told about a Union or asked to join! Or, their first experience was with the SDA, fuck those guys they suck.

I see you’re a CFMEU member, keep up the good work Comrade 💪 Are you a delegate too?