The Maritime Union of Australia's radical demands of Asciano for an onsite gym and two lockers for each employee have all the hallmarks of some of the outrageous demands by union bosses during the Qantas dispute that the company build a new hangar.
"The union bosses need to take a long hard look in the mirror," Senator Abetz said today.
"These demands unnecessarily drag out negotiations by raising expectations and disadvantage individual workers within the company."
"The concerning fact is that we are seeing more and more businesses being forced to the wall because of pressure exerted on them by union bosses through outrageous demands such as in the case of the closure of BHP's Norwich Park coal mine in Queensland."
"When workers lose their jobs because a business is forced to shut down then union bosses need to explain to those workers who lost their jobs why it happened under their watch."
"The union bosses' demands for an extra hangar in the Qantas dispute was quickly settled in arbitration as the union knew that the claim was just ridiculous in the extreme."
"The MUA should follow suit on their claims," Senator Abetz said.
"Unfortunately the continued upsurge in industrial militancy and extreme demands from union bosses seems all too common these days under the Fair Work Act."
"The fact that Minister Shorten has been forced to step in and intervene in yet another dispute is surely enough evidence that the system is not working as it should."
"I hope that the review of the Fair Work Act addresses the source of these problems," Senator Abetz said.
