Growing, engaging and retaining union membership

The IEU Member Journey project targets the retention of educators throughout their careers in non-government schools.

It aims for greater member engagement by understanding why members leave our sector. It is informed by ACTU research into the primary drivers and barriers for people to join and remain in their union.

Barriers to unionism

The most prominent driver towards joining is the promise of legal protection, including access to information about rights at work. The most common barriers are concerns around the cost of membership and whether membership represents good value for money.

Relevance: The ACTU research revealed that many workers don’t see unions as necessary to reaching their goals or needs. Half of those surveyed believed that individuals are best placed to negotiate for their own interests. We need to communicate that most improvements in worker conditions resulted from union actions.

Value: The tangible benefits of unionism are not widely enough understood. Potential members don’t know how fees are spent or whether membership is ‘worth it’. It is imperative to demystify and clarify how unions function and how funds are used.

Pathways: Many workers don’t see a clear path to joining or don’t see themselves reflected in union imagery. We need to make unionism approachable and simple to engage with.

Unique challenges in education

The education sector has an ageing workforce and fewer new entrants and the number of classroom teachers remaining in the profession beyond their first five years is declining. Early career teachers less likely to join their union and more likely to leave the profession within the first five years. The IEU must advocate for policies which support and retain new education staff.

Valuing teachers

If the community doesn't value educators, their working conditions worsen. The union has a vital role in publicising the issues facing teachers. If employers and governments represent teachers’ interests, and mainstream and social media to disseminate opinions about them, the truth about working conditions in schools is concealed.

Non-member believers

The ACTU estimates that nearly one million Australian workers who are ‘union believers’ have not joined their union. We must understand why such workers have remained non-members and concentrate our recruitment efforts on this segment, not people who will never join a union.