EDITORIAL: Unions using power handed to them by Federal IR changes are proof the laws must be wound back

Union muscle ruled in the 1970s and held the economy to ransom. And there is every reason to fear that we are now seeing a return to the bad old days.

Data released in September by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the nation lost 120,000 working days to industrial action last financial year, a surge of 80 per cent.

And it could not come at a worse time. Figures released on Wednesday showed the economy clinging to life via a government spending spree, as growth nears the slowest pace in decades and consumers close their wallets.

The weak pulse — just 0.8 per cent growth for the year to September — will pile on the pressure in Canberra as a Federal election looms, with the economy top of mind for voters.

On Thursday Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott called for a rolling back of the nation’s IR regime and warned a rise in strike actions would hurt already-stretched households and feed inflation.

The chief of Australia’s biggest conglomerate — which owns Kmart, Target, Bunnings and Officeworks — voiced concerns about the rise in “aggressive” industrial actions across the country, evident in the ongoing strike by Woolworths warehouse workers in Victoria.

“The problem with that is that ultimately, it will increase the cost and complexity of the supply chain,” he told The Nightly. “What that means is unfortunately, families will end up bearing the burden of those additional costs and it will add to the inflationary challenges we have at the moment.”

When asked if the Government needed to wind back IR laws that have emboldened unions, Mr Scott said there was an “opportunity to reset the arrangements from an industrial relations point of view to create more of a win-win arrangement that will lead to more sustainable wage growth and more efficient ways of working”.

“At the moment, we are seeing a very restrictive, onerous, inflexible, industrial relations framework evolving.”

Woolworths employees who are members of the United Workers Union walked off the job indefinitely on November 21 after negotiation for a new enterprise bargaining agreement ended in a stalemate. The strike action has already left shelves across Victoria bare, costing the supermarket giant $50 million.

The dispute is revealing the union movement’s growing confidence. On Wednesday, building unions vowed to fully support the striking Woolworths employees, declaring “touch one, touch all” and pledging to send large numbers of construction workers to back them up on the picket line “at a moment’s notice” if necessary.

The alarm bells are ringing. It is clear that what the nation needs now is an economic defibrillator. But instead we are getting a union-applied handbrake.

Families facing burdensome interest rates and a crushing cost of living will not look kindly at any Government measures which have allowed union disruption to put them under even more pressure.

They will have their chance to register their displeasure at the ballot box before long.