The push to 'super unions' (continued)

At the 1993 ACTU Congress, with the amalgamation leg of the reorganisation campaign nearing completion, Secretary Bill Kelty warned that the rationalisation of union coverage, which would follow, would be a 'much, much slower' process. The mixture of industrial and occupational unions which resulted from the amalgamations meant that although there was only one union in some workplaces, others had up to four. The ACTU's earlier aim of widespread industry unionism (described by Bill Kelty at the 1993 Congress as 'historically and democratically impossible') had been compromised and 'multiple union coverage' was accepted as an option in some industries.[91]

From the start of the push in the mid to late 1980s to the present more than 60 amalgamations between federally registered unions have taken place. With still more amalgamations planned, unions exist in the following categories:

• Administrative Services and Local Government
  
• Building, Construction, Mining and Timber Industries
  
• Communications and Electrical
  
• Distribution/Warehousing and Manufacturing (Clothing & Apparel)
  
• Education
  
• Emergency Services Grouping
  
• Finance & Commerce
  
• Health
  
• Hospitality, Liquor and Miscellaneous Workers
  
• Manufacturing (Metals and Food)
  
• Maritime and Stevedoring
  
• Media and Entertainment
  
• Professional and Managerial
  
• Public Sector
  
• Public Transport
  
• Retail
  
• Rural Industries, Infrastructure and Manufacturing (Metals and General)
  
• Transport (Road and Air)
  

The new 'super unions' took various forms. Most, in an attempt to retain autonomy and identity, chose to operate on a divisional basis. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is one example of this. The CFMEU was the eventual result of amalgamations in the early 1990s between

• the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemen's Association of Australasia
• the Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia
• the Australian Timber and Allied Industries Union
• the Australasian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation
• the Federated Mining Mechanics' Association of Australia
• the Operative Painters and Decorators' Union of Australia and
• the Federated Furnishing Trade Society of Australasia

It consists today of five divisions, somewhat akin to its predecessor components. Others, like the Maritime Union of Australia (a result of amalgamations between the Seamen's Union of Australia, the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia, the Professional Divers' Association of Australasia and the Australian Foremen Stevedore's Association) took steps to closer integration as a single union (at least at the federal level).

The pedigree charts and alphabetical directory in Parties to the Award represent, in simple form, the complex structural change experienced by organisations of the federal industrial relations system up to September 1994. They are, however, only a first step for researchers and it is hoped that this work as a whole will promote and facilitate further research on trade unions, employer associations and peak councils operating in the federal system.

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