Everyone knows there is a close connection between the Australian Labor party and the trade unions. Arguably, the ALP is just a fully owned subsidiary of the trade unions.

Every time Labor is in power, both federally and at the state level – and that’s a lot of the time these days – a principal role of that government is to dole out favourable treatment to the unions. By tightly controlling pre-selections, the trade unions ensure these special deals are ongoing.

Of course, it’s a case of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’. The unions come good with financial support for Labor at election time as well as providing organisational support, with members doing much of the legwork associated with elections.  We can now add in the money that comes via industry super funds with their close links to the sponsoring unions, something which Senator Andrew Bragg has been energetically tracking.

Of course, any sensible, liberal-minded person doesn’t object to trade unions. It’s a fundamental right in any democracy for individuals to associate and combine to create groups to represent their interests. Indeed, Australia signed up to the Freedom of Association convention of the International Labour Organisation many, many years ago.

But where it gets tricky is that freedom of association is limited to registered trade unions in Australia – that is, to those organisations given the tick of approval by the regulator. Life is made very difficult for alternative organisations that are prevented from competing on equal terms. And as Speccie readers know, monopolies are bad, no matter what form they take.

We have witnessed the valiant efforts of the Red Union Support Hub based in Queensland, but with membership now across Australia and New Zealand, establishing alternative unions for nurses, teachers and a number of other occupations. By guaranteeing that no union funds will be directed to political parties as well as offering lower fees, these new unions have an attractive product to sell to members.

Needless to say, the existing trade unions have been none too impressed with this development and have called in favours from the political wing of the movement.  The Queensland government has obliged by making life very difficult for the Red Union Support Hub by enacting specific legislation to preclude these new unions from providing industrial representation for their members.  The federal government has also been happy to oblige with some legislative changes to make life difficult for the Red Unions.

But returning to the issue of the favours that Labor governments hand out to their mates in registered trade unions, sadly there are no handy lists hanging around to quickly assess the actual assistance provided and its magnitude. It’s a matter of ferreting around, keeping your ear to the ground. Sometimes information leaks out unexpectedly.

Take, for instance, the recent review by IBAC (Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission) in Victoria. Short of declaring what happened to be corrupt, the review did establish a series of events that failed to meet the standards of good governance. Dan the Man described the report as ‘educational’.

In brief, the state secretary of the Health Services Unions had complained to the Labor government that her union was not receiving the sort of financial assistance that other unions were. To appease her, a dodgy scheme was concocted – the union was to be granted a large sum of money (over $3 million) in order to train workers to deal with violence in health-care settings.

The project was not properly specified, there were no criteria established for the selection of the successful candidate and the money was simply handed to the HSU, notwithstanding the hesitation of some public servants. The truth be told, neither the premier nor the health minister gave the awarding of this money – money for nothing really – a second thought.

Staying with Victoria, the government has decided that kindergarten (pre-school) for three- and four-year-olds should be free – OK, free of charge – both at stand-alone kindergartens and when delivered at childcare. In order for the childcare operators to receive the subsidies from the government, they must enter into model agreements with the United Workers’ Union.  This involves workers being ‘encouraged’ (made) to join the union.

The UWU also covers aged care workers, with the exception of those with nursing qualifications. It is keen to sign up more unions in a sector that is traditionally poorly unionised – like childcare. One of the ways this is being achieved is through government restrictions on aged-care operators importing workers independently rather than through a union-controlled arrangement.

How this works is that the minimum wage that must be paid to temporary workers is about to be lifted quite significantly – it is currently $53,900 per year but is about to be raised to $70,000. When a consortium of aged-care operators (who are beset by worker shortages) sought a lower figure for their sector, the minister quickly declined.

His advice was to use the union scheme which allows migrant aged-care workers to be paid less! (Yes, you read that correctly.  It’s how the minimum wage works in parts of the US – unionised workers can be paid less than non-unionised ones.)

We have also seen union involvement in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme in which persons from the Pacific Islands come to Australia to work on farms. Recently, the union has decided that the PALM workers must be guaranteed work of at least 30 hours per week – or paid for these hours – notwithstanding the variability of the demand for farm workers. In turn, groups representing the farmers have pointed out that this will make the scheme unviable and they will be turning to alternative workers such as backpackers and grey nomads.

Then there is the Productivity, Education and Training fund set up by Jimbo, with an initial allocation of $8.9 million last year, but topped up to $20 million in the most recent federal budget. ‘The purpose of the PET fund is to ensure stakeholder groups are properly resourced to educate their members and engage in the government over our reforms so we can get the best outcomes for Australian workers’. Each union – or possibly each state branch of each union – will be eligible for grants of up to $200,000 ‘to engage in industrial relations legislation’. (In theory, employer associations can also apply.)

I am only scratching the surface here.  There are numerous examples of favours being doled out to unions and union enemies punished.

Even so, the unions still face an existential threat with falling membership and shaky finances (with the exception of the CFMMEU). For them, Labor governments are essential.