Sector-wide pay-claim strikes ’only a last resort’

ACTU says strikes for sector wide pay claims a last resort as Qube Ports back off bid to rip up pay deal after industrial action.

‘We just want to see an outbreak of pay rises,’ says ACTU secretary Sally McManus. Picture: Kym Smith.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus says industrial action in support of sector-wide pay claims will be a “last resort” as Qube Ports backed away from its bid to rip up a pay deal after strike action on the Melbourne waterfront.

In response to the ACTU wages proposal, federal Labor has left open the possibility of legislating to allow workers to strike in support of sector-wide pay claims if it wins the next federal election.

Employers and the government have attacked an ACTU bid to let unions and workers take protected industrial action in support of sector-wide wage claims, saying it would kill jobs and business competitiveness.

Ms McManus yesterday said government claims that implementing the ACTU proposal would lead to an outbreak of strikes as occurred in the 1970s was “just a crazy fantasy”.

“We want to see a balance between the right for working people to take industrial action as a last resort, and giving again the power to make decisions to the Fair Work Commission,’’ she told the ABC’s Insiders program. “At the moment, they do not have the power to make decisions when there’s a big dispute or a disagreement.

“That means it is actually the law of the jungle, and the tigers are winning. And those tigers are the big multinationals and we need to make sure we have a fair independent umpire that will balance, that will make sure we don’t see long big strikes.

“We just want to see an outbreak of pay rises, not an outbreak of strikes.’’

Ms McManus said the workplace relations system should deliver pay rises in line with increases in productivity. “Over the last 10 years, productivity has gone up about twice as fast as wages, so clearly there is something wrong there.’’

She said the ACTU would have discussions with all political parties in a bid to win support for the policy. “We hope … the Labor Party would adopt a lot of the proposals but in the end that’s … a matter for them.”

Qube Ports has put on hold its bid to tear up a pay deal covering its Melbourne workforce after reaching in-principle agreement with the Maritime Union of Australia.

MUA members took legal industrial action, including a four-day strike, against a company bid to end their enterprise agreement.

A Qube spokesman said the new agreement was endorsed by employees on Friday to take to a formal vote over the next four weeks.