Union Structure and Strategy in Australia and Canada‪.‬

Introduction THE AIM OF THIS PAPER is to compare the experiences of Australian and Canadian unions during the 20th century. This comparison reveals many more similarities than differences. The similarities are best understood within a framework developed by Ross Martin. (1) He identifies five types of national trade union movements based on the relationship between unions, the state, and political parties: party-ancillary; state-ancillary; party-surrogate; state-surrogate; and autonomous. Unions in Australia and Canada fall into the last "autonomous" group, which comprises union movements from just twelve developed Western nations. Unlike the vast majority of union movements around the world, autonomous unions are dominated by neither the state nor political parties. This allows them relative freedom to define and pursue their organizational forms and goals.