Unions Push New Populist Anti-productivity Agenda
“Unions have offered up another populist, anti-productivity thought bubble with a proposal that employers must bridge a four day week with reduced working hours but maintain wages at their current rate,” said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group.
“This comes at a time when the Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday told us we face declining living standards because of falling productivity.
“As we prepare for an economic roundtable next week to lift productivity when attendees have been explicitly told that discussion on workplace relations is off the table, this is the only thing unions can offer – measures that will turn back time, cut productivity, make Australia less attractive to much needed investment and lead to fewer jobs.
“At the current rate of productivity growth, it would take 26 years to generate enough productivity to break even with our current situation with a universal four day working week.
“With this idea, based off a loaded academic survey of a trial including 10 companies that provided at best mixed results, along with Victoria wanting to legislate two days working from home for every worker, it seems the union movement and parts of Australian government don’t want Australians to work at all. The trend is that companies who have trialled a four day week are quietly dropping the idea because of reduced output and a drop in organisational capacity.
“In their muddled thinking, it seems the ACTU want to broker a four day week for everyone at the same pay rate in exchange for businesses being allowed to use artificial intelligence to boost productivity, improve workplace safety and boost worker skills. There is neither logic nor coherence to their proposal which should be dismissed out of hand.
“This thought bubble is exactly the opposite of what we need at a time when we face declining living standards directly linked to our poor productivity performance. Next week’s roundtable needs a focus on outcomes put ahead of process, certainty above complexity and deployment above dollars, not bizarre proposals which would drive our economy backwards,” Mr Willox said.
https://www.aigroup.com.au/news/media-centre/2025/unions-have-delivered-another-populist-anti-productivity-thought-bubble/