At the Harvard Trade Union Program of 1999, Emeritus Professor John T.Dunlop asked the class of mid-career union leaders to paint a picture of where their union would be in the year 2025. This was based on a similar event in 1955, when the editor of Fortune magazine asked the long-serving AFL-CIO President, George Meany, where the American labor movement would be in 1980 (see Dunlop, 1980). The Meany interview attracted interest because of its optimism and confidence regarding the future of American labor. Given the actual events that have occurred since 1955, with the drastic decline of trade union membership in industrialized countries, not too many optimistic scenarios are being posed in 1999. No one seems to want to emulate Meany's ill-fated forecast of 1955
             Unions have played an important role in Australian society in terms of raising living standards for workers and advancing social justice issues. Shorter working hours, equal pay for women, improved health and safety, holiday time, superannuation, and vocational training and other facets of Australian working life are due to enduring and forceful union campaigns. Yet despite these real life successes, the prognosis for the Australian union movement does not look good on the basis of the statistics alone.
             Third, it is important to understand changes in globalization and how nations relate to each other politically through trade and investment. There is no point in retreating into economic nationalism and trade protective strategies. Instead unions should play a role in changing economic institutions and providing labor market protection to those adversely affected by changes in the international economy. Trade unions can also make sure that trade liberalization advocates are held accountable by monitoring their claims on jobs created and the effect of trade on wages.. This is a key role for trade unions to play. There is a labor movement alternative to policies of both...