Australia's workplace laws need a "rethink" according to Coles managing director John Durkan, who hit out at the nation's industrial relations system, claiming it disadvantaged customers and discouraged innovation and productivity.
The supermarket boss called for the simplification of industrial relations after revealing Coles' latest Store Team Agreement was mired in argument before the Fair Work Commission.
"Coles is currently defending a challenge to the approval of our latest Store Team Agreement, more than a year after our team members voted overwhelmingly in support of it," Mr Durkan said at an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia event.
"Under the current workplace relations laws, one team member, a weekend casual represented by a union official from an unrelated union, has been able to hold the fate of 75,000 people's working conditions hostage over months of argument before the Fair Work Commission."
If the worker is successful, Mr Durkan said staff at the Wesfarmers-owned supermarket chain would go back to an older, less beneficial workplace agreement.
"I believe our experience at Coles demonstrates the strong need for a rethink on how Australian enterprise bargaining laws operate ... I certainly wouldn't want any other companies or their employees to endure the same protracted, uncertain process that our team is currently facing," he said.
Mr Durkan also took aim at penalty rates and questioned their role, when Sunday was Coles' biggest shopping day of the week.
And he repeated Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder's warning that the competition in grocery retail was not limited to other supermarket operators such as Woolworths and Aldi, it also included online retail giants such as Amazon, which could trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Mr Durkan was singing from the same song book as his chief executive on the effects test as well, warning it could have many unintended consequences such as pushing up the cost of groceries in regional areas.
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The supermarket boss called for the simplification of industrial relations after revealing Coles' latest Store Team Agreement was mired in argument before the Fair Work Commission.
"Coles is currently defending a challenge to the approval of our latest Store Team Agreement, more than a year after our team members voted overwhelmingly in support of it," Mr Durkan said at an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia event.
"Under the current workplace relations laws, one team member, a weekend casual represented by a union official from an unrelated union, has been able to hold the fate of 75,000 people's working conditions hostage over months of argument before the Fair Work Commission."
If the worker is successful, Mr Durkan said staff at the Wesfarmers-owned supermarket chain would go back to an older, less beneficial workplace agreement.
"I believe our experience at Coles demonstrates the strong need for a rethink on how Australian enterprise bargaining laws operate ... I certainly wouldn't want any other companies or their employees to endure the same protracted, uncertain process that our team is currently facing," he said.
Mr Durkan also took aim at penalty rates and questioned their role, when Sunday was Coles' biggest shopping day of the week.
And he repeated Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder's warning that the competition in grocery retail was not limited to other supermarket operators such as Woolworths and Aldi, it also included online retail giants such as Amazon, which could trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Mr Durkan was singing from the same song book as his chief executive on the effects test as well, warning it could have many unintended consequences such as pushing up the cost of groceries in regional areas.
SMH Read more:
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