The television scenes last week of union members marching through airport terminals were arresting. They wore vests, carried banners and were shepherded by union officials bellowing chants from the ubiquitous megaphone. It appeared the chants were meant to convince travellers the delays they were to experience that day were justified. To me it was further proof that Australia's union leadership is losing touch with the Australian community. It was a throwback to the days of union militancy and arrogant union officialdom.
The federal government is today seen as disconnected from the issues and concerns of many Australians. The disconnect apparently applies to those Australians categorised as its traditional heartland, the workers.
One frequently identified problem for the ALP is that too many of its parliamentary representatives are former union officials. This predicament is now exacerbated as union officials themselves increasingly appear to be out of touch.
Both organisations joined in 2008 to leave Australia with an awful legacy, a fair work system that has major faults. A system that is damaging workplace efficiency and the capacity to optimise incomes and jobs growth, while also entrenching union privilege, notwithstanding an alarming fall in union membership.
A major fault with the system is rapidly becoming registered in the public's mind.
Union officials are using the new bargaining rules to orchestrate protracted negotiations for an enterprise agreement. Industrial campaigns involving bans, strikes and belatedly cancelled strikes are commonplace. Qantas is the most recognised example. Similar protracted campaigns are affecting Toyota, BHP coal mines, Customs, police and public servants, while campaigns are being planned for health and other areas of public sector employment.
Behind these campaigns, which target large employers, is a malaise affecting smaller businesses. The new multi-layered system of National Employment Standards, awards and agreements is a disincentive to pursue creative agreements with workers. Most take the easy option of paying the standard award or copping the union-endorsed agreement for their particular industry.
Union officials are also determinedly pursuing two other damaging strategies. They are attempting to expand their rights of entry to workplaces. Many workplaces that hardly ever saw an official are now logging numerous entries. Clauses that expand the right are now commonly sought when bargaining for new agreements.
Independent contracting and labour hire are generally beyond union control. As a result, unions now seek to limit the capacity of firms to engage contract labour on terms that suit the employer and help the business remain competitive.
Union militancy may have been tolerated in decades past. But it is an economic anachronism in today's connected and competitive world.
Unsurprisingly, militancy is not helping the unions. Membership remains stuck at very low levels, with coverage falling to 14 per cent in the private sector and 19 per cent overall.
Unpleasant outcomes are on the horizon as a short-sighted game is being played. It will unravel when the economy deteriorates, if not before.
Workplaces with diminished employer-employee engagement will be less efficient. Inflexible agreements and rules constraining employment options will limit responses to tough trading conditions and employers will respond by driving down labour costs, employing fewer people and transferring jobs offshore.
An inquiry into the fair work legislative framework is scheduled and it has the hallmarks of a whitewash. A thorough review is needed.
We have to urgently consider reforms to the labour market that will take up the opportunities of our current strong economy and consolidate the gains for future prosperity.
The features of the system that encourage arrogant union militancy must be changed. Union leaders need to become more mindful of the aspirations of most Australians.
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