Federal election 2016: strikes surge after ABCC abolition

Strikes on building sites have soared 35 per cent since Labor abolished the powerful construction watchdog.

There were 10.8 working days lost from strikes in the construction industry in the three months to March.

Strikes on building sites have soared 35 per cent since Labor abolished the powerful Australian Building and Construction Commission, with the Turnbull government accusing militant unions of forcing up the cost of schools, hospitals and public roads.

More working days were lost to industrial disputes in the con­struction industry in the three months to March than in all other ­industries combined.

The government seized on the figures, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday, to push its case for industrial ­relations reform. The Coalition said construction workers had walked off the job on average five times more than workers in all other industries in the four years since Labor scrapped the Howard government’s ABCC.

There were 10.8 working days lost from strikes in the construction industry in the three months to March, compared with 27.9 across all Australian workplaces the figures showed.

The data suggests productivity in the construction industry ­improved when the ABCC building regulator was operating between 2005 to 2012. Disputes in the construction industry fell during the period to twice the all-industries average but have spiked to pre-ABCC levels since the watchdog was scrapped.

Malcolm Turnbull’s attempts to resurrect the watchdog, which has coercive powers and can levy hefty fines for unlawful industrial action, were blocked in the Senate by Labor and the Greens, triggering the double-dissolution election to be held on July 2 and placing industrial relations at the heart of the campaign.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said the ABS figures confirmed Australians would “continue to pay more for public infrastructure until law and order is brought back to Australian construction sites through the re-establishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission”.

“When more and more days are lost to industrial action, this makes every new hospital, school, road or public transport project more expensive,” Senator Cash said. “Australia cannot afford to have a building and construction industry that is mired by wildcat strikes and unlawful conduct.”

The construction industry is the nation’s third largest employer and provides employment for more than one million Australians.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, which has donated $14m to the ALP since 1995, has lobbied fiercely against the Coalition’s efforts to reinstate the ABCC.