Enterprise bargaining a ‘colossal failure’ says ACTU’s Tim Lyons

Enterprise bargaining should be dismantled and the States given power to lift minimum wages, former senior ACTU official says.

Former ACTU Assistant Secretary Tim Lyons.

Enterprise bargaining had been a “colossal failure” and should be dismantled, with the States given power to lift minimum wages, former senior ACTU official Tim Lyons says.

Mr Lyons told the Melbourne Institute/The Australian Economic and Social Outlook Conference that low wages growth reflected the weakness of key labour market institutions, including unions, the award system and enterprise bargaining.

He said these weaknesses were compounded by underemployment and the power of employers, including major companies such as Coles and Woolworths to impact the wages of tens of thousands of workers throughout supply chains.

He said “enterprise bargaining needs to be regarded as a colossal failure” because most workers had not been able to exercise enough combined power at an enterprise level to get pay rises.

My Lyons said the dimensions of wage theft in Australia were enormous while employers were using the “weapon” of applying to terminate enterprise agreements.

Aggressive wage policies by federal and state governments had also contributed to low wages.

But he said unions needed to accept their share of the blame as they had failed to develop new ways to take effective collective action beyond traditionally unionised industries.

He said strikes had become “statistically extinct” and Australia effectively had “zero rates of industrial action”.

He said the enterprise bargaining should be dismantled and replaced with a system that allowed for industry and sector wide bargaining.

The Fair Work Act should be amended to allow the States to determine higher minimum wages than the federal minimum wage, he said.

My Lyons said wages could be further lifted though stronger equal pay provisions and changes to the low-paid bargaining stream which had delivered zero outcomes for workers.