PIAA CEO Andrew Macaulay says; “The statements from ACTU signal a direction to walk away from an enterprise bargaining system that ushered in one of the great periods of prosperity, opportunity and middle class growth in Australia’s history. The ALP and Coalition can both be proud of their leadership in this achievement.”

PIAA will lobby strongly to defend small business in all forums where these retrograde ACTU plans are raised.

The ACTU has today sought to call time on enterprise bargaining, in a bid to expose Australian small business to the law of the jungle.
ACTU Secretary Sally McManus has been explicit; unions want to return Australia to the dark days of 1970s industry wide strikes.
“Enterprise bargaining has helped deliver 26 years of continuous economic growth” says Macaulay, “The majority of the print and packaging sector are SMEs, and enterprise bargaining has enabled agility. Business is not willing to throw this away.”
Returning to industry wide claims and strikes can only damage small business. The ACTU calls this a blueprint to give Australia a pay rise, it is actually a blueprint to stalling employment, for strikes and increased union power at the expense of jobs – unless wage increases are affordable one person’s pay rise will cost another person their job.
Macaulay acknowledges “There are practical problems in the enterprise bargaining system that need to be fixed. We call on responsible unions to work with industry to fix the system, not destroy it.”