Australia lost 120,000 working days to industrial disputes in the year to June

Australia’s construction sector lost almost 9000 working days in the June quarter to industrial action. That comes amid a surge across the economy, with 120,000 working days lost in the financial year — up 80 per cent — according to data released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Those figures are still low by historical standards and includes both worker strikes and employer-led lockouts. But the numbers will add to concerns from business lobbyists that a run of employment relations changes by the Federal Government could upset the hard-fought industrial peace of recent decades. Days lost to industrial disputes in construction were at their highest level in five years. The data comes just weeks after the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union was sent to administration following deep concerns about allegations of corruption and criminal links. The nation’s biggest money earner, resources, has also seen growing union action. Industrial battles in the oil and gas industry last year sent international energy markets into chaos. Woodside Energy narrowly avoided a strike while Chevron’s two big gas export plants were hit with rolling action. There’s also been a campaign to re-unionise Pilbara’s giant iron ore sector in recent weeks, with the Western Mine Workers Alliance starting negotiations with BHP for an enterprise bargaining deal. That sparked the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to warn of a return to the “industrial chaos” of the 1980’s, when at least one big WA iron ore miner was posting ongoing losses and teetered on the brink amid a dispute with unions. Miners are concerned that empowering unions will delay and disrupt projects, drive up costs, and discourage investment. But Resources Minister Madeleine King hit back in late August, saying unions understood the economic prosperity of the Pilbara and had changed since the 1980s. Unions have said they don’t want a revolution but a “sensible evolution where workers can have a genuine say in their pay and conditions about the things that are important to them”. UnionsWA secretary Owen Whittle said workers were unionising in a response to the cost of living crisis. “Unions are the only reliable way workers will get a pay rise and when employers won’t come to the table, workers are unionising and taking action to achieve them,” he told The West Australian. “Just today, public hospital pharmacy workers across Perth walked off the job to demand a fair wages offer from the State Government. “We will continue to support our affiliates to take industrial action to achieve wage outcomes that deliver for working people.”