The government’s announcement at the Jobs and Skills Summit that the expansion of multi-employer bargaining is now on its agenda will embolden the unions to push hard for the right to organise industrial action across industry sectors. This is not in the community’s interests, and it needs to be quickly and decisively ruled out by the federal government.

Industry-wide stoppages in the past have led to widespread economic damage. Between 1999 and 2001, the manufacturing industry ensured industry-wide strikes and stand-downs in pursuit of union pattern bargaining claims. In a 2002 inquiry, the Productivity Commission noted that the estimated cost of lost production from two industrial disputes across the automotive industry the year before was up to $630 million. This cost would be more than $1 billion in today’s money.