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In a landmark decision where efficacy and efficiency have triumphed over politics, Australian unions have begun hiring a private firm to recruit members from workplaces, and a number of leading officials have slammed this as outsourcing a union’s core business function to a private company.

Work Partners, which was led by former ALP activist Stuart McGill, had 90 employees that seek new members for unions such as the Australian Education Union in Victoria and the Community and Public Sector Union.

Brian Henderson, secretary of the AEU in Victoria, disclosed that the AEU had given $500 to Work Partners for every new recruit. Work Partners had enlisted 7000 new members to their union in two years.

Ed Husic, national president of Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union revealed that his union had hired Work Partners to recruit members from Telstra and Australia Post.

These unions were criticised by various union officials for outsourcing a union’s core function.

Paul Howes, national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, stated his opposition to hiring Work Partners: “We don’t use them. We are not going to use them as we don’t think you can outsource core union work,” while others proclaimed their doubts against the recruitment approach.

Australian Education Union’s Victorian branch membership grew by 20 percent to 35,000, but Mr Henderson said that his union did not outsource their recruitment process, and that hiring Work Partners served as an aid to their own recruiters. “Our membership is growing…at a spectacular rate,” he said. “Why would we stop doing that given that what the ACTU wants is faster growing union membership?”

Meanwhile, Mr Husic asserted that Work Partners was more effective in recruiting members as opposed to using their own union employees who, at times, simply gave up trying to recruit members. “This is a model that we are prepared to embrace, and it is something new.”

Admitting that there had been some issues in workplaces where unions challenged coverage, he continued, “If the ACTU wants to broker protocols, we’d welcome it.”

Karen Batt, secretary of the CPSU in Victoria, agreed with Mr Husic, calling the union’s approach to recruitment as a “breath of fresh air.” She added that unions outsourced other functions such as legal and communications, and asked, “What is sacrosanct about recruitment?”