Summary

"At its 1989 biennial congress the Australian Council of Trade Unions [ACTU] determined a policy for the future structure of trade unions in Australia. Broadly, the new policy encouraged unions to amalgamate, with the intention of consolidating their human and financial resources to form better resourced, larger, industrial unions.

"The Constuction Forestry Mining & Energy Union [CFMEU] is the result of a series of amalgamations during the early 1990s. Prior to amalgamation there were numerous unions spread across construction, forestry, mining and energy industries. Those unions amalgamated along industry lines to form each of the divisions of the CFMEU. Each division operates autonomously, with its own membership, executive, resources, industry policies and campaigns.

"These divisions date as far back as the mid nineteenth century and include such notable unions as the Miners' Federation, the Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia, the Australian Timber Workers' Union, the Operative Plasterers' and the Operative Painters' & Decorators' Union of Australia." (Australian Trade Union Archives, 2010, http://www.atua.org.au/biogs/ALE0384b.htm, accessed 2 Feb 2017)

Resources

Pamphlets

• The People's Conference: the Alternative to the World Economic Forum, Public First [This scan courtesy of Viola Wilikins], Melbourne, 2000, 2 pp. images PDF Details
• Why we Should be Concerned About Globalisation and the World Economic Forum, Public First [This scan courtesy of Viola Wilikins], Melbourne, 2000, 4 pp. images PDF Details