Generation Y ripe for union picking

The union movement also has much to offer young workers who haven’t been able to attain tertiary qualifications or who can’t rely on generous parents. These are young Australians often caught in cycles of poorly paid, temporary and insecure work in call-centres and the service industry. For them, there are few opportunities to escape on backpacking tours or return to further study.

For all these young workers, the challenge for unions is to make the argument that it actually makes sense to work together to get a better deal, and that the idea of unionism is not to hold people back but to hold one another up. Indeed, when testing the image of unions with young people, the one concept all warm to is that of crowd surfing. If your mates aren’t there to catch you, you end up hitting the ground. Hard.

If unions can build the case that they can help young people help each other - through the support, expertise and moral authority that have always been their cornerstones - then young people will be savvy enough to buy.

And with the federal government’s current attack on workers’ rights centre stage, young workers are about to be confronted with the loss of things they have always taken for granted. How ironic if John Howard proves to be the best organiser the union movement has ever had.