Time to address modern workplaces

摘要

The Government's proposals on strike laws seem to be targeting yesterday's problem instead of addressing the reality of modern workplaces. The number of days lost to strike action has dropped by over 90% in the last 20 years and industrial action today increasingly takes the form of protest action rather than all-out strikes making the legislation even less warranted. It's time to start talking about prevention rather than cure when it comes to strike action and the public sector's workforce challenges in particular. Taxpayers' interests are best served by an efficient, engaged and productive public sector workforce. We need to see more consultation and ongoing dialogue, and engagement with, the workforce, rather than the introduction of mechanisms that reflect the industrial relations challenges of the 1980s. To jump straight to legislating strike activity without considering this seems to be a step back.