In Australian politics, the Labor Party has typically cast itself as the defenders of the rights of working people. Yet the Queensland Labor Party is currently engaged in a potentially egregious violation of workers’ rights as codified in international law, and it is certain that they will not face any pushback from the Australian Labor Party (ALP) federal government.

In 2022, Queensland’s ALP, led by Annastacia Palaszczuk (sometimes referred to as ‘Anna Stasi’ in the same spirit as ‘Dictator Dan’ due to the more extreme aspects of her Covid response), introduced the Industrial Relations and Other Legislation Amendment Bill.

This bill was championed by her Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace. Among other impacts, the Bill was designed to make it very difficult for independent workers’ organisations (i.e. workers’ organisations that don’t support the ALP) to represent their members’ interests in the Queensland Industrial Relations Court.

Independent workers’ organisations used to be entitled to be called ‘trade unions’ (as they provide collective bargaining, legal representation, and other services which have historically defined what a ‘trade union’ is), but thanks to the legal chicanery unleashed by the bill, they are no longer able to call themselves that within the State of Queensland. Traditional ALP-supporting workers’ organisations remain unaffected.

The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention of 1948 is one of eight core conventions that define international labour law, and Australia is a signatory to these conventions. Of particular interest here is Part 1, Article 2, which states: ‘…workers and employers, without any distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and, subject only to the rules of the organisation concerned, to join organisations of their own choosing without previous authorisation.’ In other words, workers have a right to complete freedom of association, to establish their own organisations and to join whatever organisations they wish.

But these particular workers’ rights appear to have been deemed unworthy of protection by the Queensland ALP (and presumably the federal government too). Why? Because workers who join independent workers’ organisations are not subsidising the political activities of the Queensland ALP, whereas those who join ALP supporting workers’ organisations are. If this is not a ‘conflict of interest’ I don’t know what is.

Let us look at this situation through an economic lens. ILO Conventions establish and protect a free market in workers’ organisations – anyone can establish such an organisation and individuals are free to choose whatever organisation they wish to be affiliated with. These organisations, when operating in a free market, offer a bundle of services to workers in exchange for membership fees, and reduced transaction costs for employers in exchange for higher monetary wages and/or more worker-favoured working conditions (i.e. a reduction in employer’s transaction costs in exchange for an increase in the employer’s production costs). Competition between these organisations does improve outcomes for both workers (through membership fees at half the cost and/or improved services and superior working conditions) and employers (through further reduced transaction costs).

Through passing a bill that tries to prevent independent workers’ organisations from being able to represent their members, Queensland ALP may have violated workers’ rights and established something that looks awfully close to a monopoly. Without competition, there is no pressure for Queensland ALP supporting unions to reduce their membership fees or improve the services they offer to workers.

This is unutterably perverse and ultimately represents an inversion of the proper relationship between the worker and their trade union (or workers’ organisation). Workers’ organisations (whatever they are called) are meant to serve workers, and in a free market the only way such an organisation can survive is to satisfy its members. But the politically privileged unions behind Queensland ALP appear to be more concerned with their own interests and the interests of their employers rather than those of actual workers.

Economists call this issue ‘incentive alignment’ – an independent workers’ organisation (i.e. one without friends in high political places) has its incentives aligned with the workers who pay membership fees (which includes offering a good deal to employers, since the workers who pay membership fees ultimately want a job).

Well, I call ‘incentive alignment’ a creepy tribe with the various sectors in cahoots, which is a shameless state-sanctioned open secret. If we turn abstract this political clout allows a workers’ organisation to be self-serving, to pursue the interests of the organisation itself and its stakeholders rather than those of the fee-paying members; the result is the politically powerful trade unions we’re all unfortunately familiar with.

Some believe that they are charging at least twice as much as is needed to provide the service. It is also clear that this hypocrisy is so far-reaching that it often benefits the employer over the employee. How more perverse can you get? It should come as no surprise that, with so many trade unions serving their own internal bureaucracy rather than their actual members, trade union membership has been steadily declining across the OECD nations for at least the past two decades.

Workers deserve better. Australian workers deserve better, and Queensland workers do too. Independent workers’ organisations can deliver services that are just as good or even better, at half the price. Competition can improve outcomes for both workers and employers. If only the Queensland ALP just respected workers’ rights (and freedom of association) as acknowledged in international law.

But never underestimate a rent-seeker’s drive to rent-seek. It is our opinion that Australia’s ALP unions have never truly been about the rights of workers, but rather have always been about funding the ALP. And you can’t do that unless you have a monopoly. Originally, the competitive threat was foreign, non-white labour – the Immigration Restriction Act (a.k.a. ‘White Australia Policy’) of 1901 was strongly supported by these ALP unions. These days, the competitive threat is alternative unions (or workers’ organisations, depending on the jurisdiction).

As the song goes, ‘solidarity forever’ has clearly made the union strong … strong enough to pursue interests that aren’t those of its members. Now is the time to highlight the self-serving hypocrisy of the politically privileged union bureaucrats who claim to stand for the working man. The biggest worry is that this farce is formally supported. Let’s get real.