One of Australia's largest and most powerful unions has broken new ground by adopting a brand that rivals the more imaginative branding strategies dreamed up corporate marketing executives.
The LHMU, which used to call itself the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, has changed its name to United Voice.
The name change has been in the works for two years, as the union's governing body, its National Council, said the old title was an "unwieldy mouthful" and did not properly represent the different industries it represented.
The union's WA secretary, Dave Kelly, said in a letter to members that United Voice was chosen as a name that conveyed the mission and ideals of the union instead of describing a section of the industries it represents.
"United Voice says so much more about why we are here and what we are trying to achieve in our workplaces and communities," Mr Kelly said.
"The new name will take a little time to get used to but I am confident that in a very short while we will make it our own."
The name change coincided with the union's national secretary, Louise Tarrant, calling on governments to recognise there is a crisis in the social wage.
Ms Tarrant says the income shift away from workers, the erosion of the social wage, the increased risk exposure of individuals and households, makes for an increasingly unequal and fragile democracy.
United Voice commissioned an AUSPOLL survey which found just 37 per cent of Australians believe the future will be better for the next generation.
"Too many people in our community are not sharing fairly in the progress of recent decades," she said.
"The reality is that workers in Australia are increasingly stretched by their exposure to insecure work and new forms of consumption as governments withdraw from their traditional social wage activity.
