The Business Council of Australia has re-emphasised the fundamental importance of existing legislative restraints on secondary boycott industrial action.

The President of the BCA, Mr Campbell Anderson, said today: “Any proposal to restore to unions the economic and industrial power to use secondary boycotts and sympathy strikes would be reckless in the extreme. In this respect, a recent statement that the ALP might embrace such a recidivist position is a matter of real concern.”

“Existing legislative safeguards represent the minimal acceptable position to Australian industry.”

“Action to rescind current legislative safeguards will be a green light to industry-wide strikes, causing enormous costs to those businesses caught up in someone else’s dispute. It would remove an important and singularly effective deterrent against union coercion.”

“It will cause widespread damage to Australia’s economy and its trading reputation.”