Fast-food union push at McDonald’s makes mess of flexibility

The trade union push into fast-food company McDonald’s is a fitting symbol of the stifling intrusion being posed by the Albanese government’s workplace relations changes.

The attempt to force McDonald’s stores to negotiate a multi-employer bargaining agreement with the union movement has rightly set alarm bells ringing across the retail, hospitality and fast-food sector.

It confirms what the Albanese government’s jobs summit, held in the opening months of the new government, was really all about.

Employer groups were blindsided by the true intention of the gathering, which was to restore the power of the trade union movement in the workplace.

Under the guise of making it easier for small employers to reach agreement without having to face the individual cost of doing so, the push is on to extend union negotiating powers on an industry basis across all sectors.

This works against the hard-won benchmark of individual workplace flexibility, which is essential to building much-needed productivity.

In the case of McDonald’s, the result is also likely to be less opportunity for the next generation of workers to learn the skills on the McDonald’s counter that they can take with them into a future working life.

McDonald’s is opposing an ACTU-backed application to make the fast-food giant negotiate a new multi-employer deal, accusing the retail union of trying to avoid showing it has majority employee support for the claim.

Business groups said the union claim was an attempt to expand Labor’s “highly union-friendly supported bargaining stream into industry sectors it was never intended for”.

Ironically, the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia has joined a pre-budget submission to government that is highly critical of increased government intrusion.

The federal government claimed the support of COSBOA to ram through its industrial relations changes, which were rolled out across the board.

COSBOA is now pushing for mandatory provisioning of small-business impact statements before new policies are brought before cabinet, a dedicated “small-business flying squad” to eliminate unnecessary compliance barriers, a comprehensible industrial relations system and a more “user-friendly approach to government agencies”.

COSBOA wants a greater focus on small business within Treasury and Finance, claiming family businesses were bearing the brunt of rising costs, slowing demand and increased compliance burdens.

Its submission is headlined by measures including a larger instant asset write-off, reduction in administrative tax burdens, and consideration of a tax holiday or lower tax rates.

Small business increasingly is being forced to compete for attention and workers with an expanding public sector, where the government’s attention has been focused.

Disharmony among small business reflects the cost-of-living pressures that are also worrying households and sapping support away from Anthony Albanese and his government.

The latest Newspoll results show the Prime Minister and Labor have continued to lose personal support and most voters now expect a Coalition victory at the next election.

This would be a remarkable feat for Peter Dutton but is by no means assured, with a hung parliament still the more likely outcome.

The Opposition Leader is positioning himself as a champion of small business, drawing on his own experience of having employed staff.

The fact is a healthy private sector is necessary to pay the public sector bills, something voters understand.

The current approach of greater trade union intrusion and more government red tape is not the way to go about it.