Industrial relations debate reveals class war, the Australian way

The government and its Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke is right to try to rush through its reform bill as quickly as possible. It’s not merely that Australian workers need more bargaining power as quickly as possible; it’s because in this country we’re unable to have a worthwhile industrial relations debate.

As Crikey has written before, much of that has to do with the way the media has uncritically accepted the framing of industrial relations debate pushed by Australian business, to the extent that the entire debate is conducted through the prism of what is good for business, not for workers, who have endured over the past decade eight years of wage stagnation and, now, a second year of large real wage falls.

Given many in the media either failed to report on or tried to downplay those years of wage stagnation, and many business apologists in outlets such as The Australian Financial Review continue to hype what is by any standards poor wages growth, it’s perhaps no surprise that the idea of an industrial relations debate that includes the perspective of Australian households should feel foreign.

Instead it’s dominated by the perspective of business and employer lobby groups, who have a largely uncritical media to run their talking points about the disaster that will inevitably follow anything but a shift to an even more pro-employer IR framework. The views of unions are treated as somehow illegitimate and self-interested in a way that lobbyists like AIGroup or the Chamber of Commerce and Industry aren’t.

The Reserve Bank, which has re-embraced neoliberal orthodoxy and now warns of a wage-price spiral, also gets some share of the credit for the skewed way wages growth is viewed in the media.

But unlike, for example, on climate change or the housing crisis, Labor in government not merely recognises there’s a crisis, but is prepared to take action — reflecting the fact that unions are the dominant source of political donations to the ALP. It’s a rare case of political donations from influential lobby groups, and the national interest, coinciding (though remember in other areas, such as climate action, key trade unions are opposed to action).

The industrial relations bill the government is trying to rush through will restore a degree of sectoral bargaining to the wage bargaining landscape. This will boost the power of workers and unions in trying to extract bigger pay rises from employers.

Yet the “debate”, such as it is, is entirely about the impact on business, as though the profit share of national income hadn’t reached new heights in recent quarters, or the wage share hadn’t collapsed to record lows. Ignore the poor outcomes occurring under current policy settings, and focus on the possible outcomes that might occur under policy change — if they affect well-organised and influential vested interests.

At no stage have either media commentators or the crossbenchers in the Senate or the independents in the House of Representatives asked about how Australian workers will get back to the level of real wages they had a decade ago, or how long that will take without significant IR reform. No one has thought to ask that question, because the IR debate is so skewed away from the interests of workers.

Many also appear possessed by the belief that there’s some IR nirvana achievable where workers and employers will sit down together, sing of peace and love, and agree on decent wage rises — that wages growth is possible without anyone getting hurt or even inconvenienced. Some have a distorted idea of the Hawke Accord years, when business and unions worked together for the good of the country — forgetting that the level of strikes throughout the ’80s was more than 10 times higher then than it has been over the past year.

Wages bargaining is a blood sport — one in which increasingly powerful corporations have had their boots on the throats of workers for a decade. Worrying that employers might get their shoes scuffed a little in removing them is an act of wilful ignorance.

Are you for or agin Labor’s rush to push through IR laws? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.