Selective Collectives

By Nicholas Way

The Federal Government abhors workers using unions to bargain collectively. But there is different thinking for small business.

The Dawson report, a commitment the federal government made in 2001 to examine how competition law was working handed down a recommendation to streamline the process by which small business can collectively bargain and boycott in its dealings with big business. Joe Hockey enthused that "collective bargaining by smaller firms, where it does not have an anti-competitive effect, empowers small business to take on the larger firms."

In an example of the government's support for this kind of collective action, the government was quite supportive of dairy farmers getting permission from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to negotiate collectively with the milk processor, Pauls. In fact, the Minister for Agriculture, Warren Truss, dipped into the kitty to provide $100,000.00 to run workshops for farmers on how to bargain collectively.

(Eureka Street. vol. 15, no. 2, March 2004)