The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has indicated that it intends to become more active in the area of industrial disputes by reactivating the use of secondary boycott actions.
Pursuant to Section 45D of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), a person must not, in concert with a second person, engage in conduct that hinders or prevents a third person from supplying to or acquiring from a fourth person, goods and services, where the fourth person is not an employer of the first or second person.
In his article, Secondary boycott actions under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, Workplace Solutions partner Robert McClelland sets out the specific provisions of the statutory prohibition, and details the damages and consequences that flow from successful secondary boycott actions. The article also sets out the legal basis for the prohibition in both the industrial and consumer context, which will be of interest to both trade unions and owners of large-scale enterprises substantially staffed by trade union employees.