By Callen Sorensen Karklis
Many Australians are heard saying that they’re feeling the pinch, especially at the checkouts! Gone are the days of Australia being the lucky country! Australia is well and truly amid a crippling cost of living and housing crisis because of excessive greed and bad policy. As Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore…?” These same words would now apply to many in land of Oz under the Southern Cross: “I don’t think we’re lucky anymore” …. “This isn’t the Australia I remember”.
How did we get to this point? Believe it or not the supermarket giants weren’t always this way. Inflation is playing a big part mixed into the current economic climate. This is due to the aftereffects of the Covid–19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, but also particularly due to excessive greed. Greed exacerbated since the 1980s neoliberal reforms globally under all sides of politics, and the failures of learning from the GFC in 2007–2008.
First, we must understand history and politics. In Australia, much like the United States, the country bolstered a strong agricultural market during its colonial era which grew and flourished. Agrarian socialism mixed in with the fight for workers’ rights in the minerals market in a flourishing gold mining boom led to the foundation of the early Australian labour movement in the mid-late 19th century. And with it the Australian Labor Party in 1891.
Believe it or not it wasn’t always the Country or National Party that was the party of the farmers. Labor today is always coined as the party for the worker, but Labor was also the party for the farmers. Farming co–ops were becoming the norm in early Federation in many regional and local localities and this was boosted by early Labor Premiers like Ted Theodore in QLD who established an Agricultural Bank, while encouraging fruit produce production and orderly marketing and controls on price fluctuations while developing this space for farming. In simple terms, fair prices for fair work made for all. Pure socialism! But it worked!
Areas like where I come from (the Redlands) were the salad bowls of their state like in South–East Qld. This is how the Tingalpa Shire Council (now part of Redlands, Logan, and BCC) and a majority of South Eastern municipalities in Brisbane and places like Gympie (nowadays dominated by conservative rule) were dominated by the early Labour movement from early federation until the mid-1950s. Tingalpa Mayor such as JD. Collins advocated openly Labor Party candidates at a state level in the mid-1930s who had clear links to the farming co-ops of the day.
Wesfarmers was one example of another co-op that evolved gradually into a conglomerate corporate shopping chain, while others later sold the farm to build developments. Since the 1970s the supermarkets have been burdened by their own success which has today led to a culture of greed within the industry. (Former Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci stormed out of an ABC Four Corners interview when questioned over high prices at the checkouts).
My great grandfather (four generations before me) James Wilson Hughes, was a grocer in Gympie, the son of an Irish miner, later mining manager and seamstress small business owner and immigrants who operated his own family business. He turned to insurance and politics becoming the longest serving city alderman of his day from 1919–1959. As working directly with farmers (the producers) and with the community bred the perfect way forward to become politically engaged. My forebear in true Boardwalk Empire style became an influential figure in the mining agricultural working-class town as its Town Treasurer funding projects and works during the Great Depression and establishing emergency services while building ties to local community groups and sports groups, he later became the Deputy Town Mayor in his final days.
The same could be said of Arthur Coles who established what we know today as Coles Supermarkets in the working-class suburb of Collingwood in Melbourne. Coles, like my ancestor, was a smart businessman anx ndependent conservative who made a quick rise selling cheap products and became the Mayor of Melbourne in 1938–1940 from this success and would serve two terms as federal MP for Henty, playing a crucial role in deciding the government during the hung parliament of outbreak of World War 2, Henty was temporarily a member of the Coalition and was pragmatic in his thinking and sided with the ALP handing the Prime Ministership from Nationals Arthur Faden to Labor’s John Curtin.
Curtin delivered a post war economic boom which the nation transformed drastically under his successor Ben Chifley which the Coalition leader Bob Menzies took full credit for. Regardless who takes the credit much would not have been possible without Coles’ decision making. Never a minister but influential, Coles was appointed the Chair of the Commonwealth Rationing and War Damage Commissions, Australian National Airlines Commission (Trans Australia Airlines now known as Qantas) and Chair of the Melbourne Olympic Games Committee.
Other policy makers with similar roots were James Scullin – a grocer – had the misfortune of becoming Prime Minister during the Great Depression and unsuccessfully led the charge to adopt Keynesian stimulus in response to the crisis with his Federal Treasurer Ted Theodore. It was during this period that the original retail union Shop Distributive and Allied Association (originally called the Shops Assistants and Warehouse Employees Federation of Australia prior to 1972).
Initially advocating for reduced working hours per day from 14 to 12. It was run by staunch Irish Catholics which gained considerable power in both the industrial and political wing of the Australian Labour movement, becoming one of the biggest sectors of the movement. So much so that this group that would later become known as the Industrial Groups factional bloc in the ALP in the 1940s and 1950s. This group became increasingly socially conservative due to religious influence blurring the lines between state and religion. Never a smart choice to avoid secularism in Labor’s case it cost it dearly by splitting over the issue of communism during the height of the Cold War and prevented Labor from governing for 23 years from 1949–1972 until the rise of Gough Whitlam to the Lodge.
Many farmers also became skeptical of socialism despite their own interest and sided gradually with the Country Party and later the Nationals. The Labor infighting encouraged by the Groupers only helped the conservatives, which was not properly meandered until Bob Hawke, the great conciliator, became Prime Minister hailing from Labor’s right factional blocs. Unfortunately, the union became run by greedy bureaucrats who benefitted dearly as their workers paid the ultimate price as the retail bosses gradually stripped the rights of their workforce under the veil of the Accords between the ACTU labour movement, business community and the government of the days during the Neoliberal reforms of the 1980s.
This only became worse during the Howard era by stealth with the SDA forsaking penalty rates award agreements on certain weekends for their workers: doing the opposite then what a union should do! Well deserved credit is due, however, on opposing the draconian WorkChoices but the SDA became an institutional part of the framework opposed to militant convictions of other unions. This in turn has led to the rise of the RAFFWU union which has fought for some of the first strike actions against employers in history in the retail sector. One of RAFFWU’s own become elected as Federal Greens MP in Brisbane in Stephen Bates during Apple strikes and industrial disputes as an ex-employee.
Unfortunately for us, all the supermarket giants have become completely mad with power, ignorance, and vanity by now charging excessive prices gradually over the decades until the post-Covid inflationary period has seen prices sharply skyrocket. While this isn’t quite a 1929 crisis point, it’s clear to groups like the Australian Greens who have advocated for an investigation into price gouging.
This has forced the Albanese Government to swiftly consider a review of all ACCC rules and protocols regarding how pricing is administered by the private sector, especially as a growing number of every day Australians struggle more and more to pay for the simplest of everyday goods.
It’s clear that the supermarket giants also don’t provide enough satisfactory benefits to their staff as not enough superannuation is allocated and hours are cut (to cut costs) as an emphasis is put on younger staff to work more as older workers become expensive despite their skillsets, making it more competitive for people looking for work and less stable as many become underemployed struggling to make ends meet while attempting to meet productivity. This was the case with me after seven years working in retail at both IGA and Coles. This is why automation such as self – services machines and KPIs can become a liability not an asset as it’s made out to be. Especially so when the human factor and empathy is taken out of the situation as profits are weighed above the human contribution but instead focused on human costs.
The moves away from social connectivity to the community have created a culture of toxic insular thinking in the management of corporate Australia, particularly in the supermarket giants (including the SDA). One could argue that this was the reason why same sex marriage took so long to get off the ground until the Turnbull period due – to the influence of the SDA during the Rudd/Gillard era (2007-2013) and being one of the largest contributors in donations in union funds generated from retail and fast food worker fees. This is why it’s imperative to change the insidious nature of how we can get our supermarkets to play ball again and get back to basics! If the SDA became truly democratic and unions grassroots based like RAFFWU and actively pressured bosses in this space to change their ways, it could make all the difference for all!
While the cost-of-living crisis isn’t all affected by everything outlined above, much of it has also been affected by a shortage of supplies since the economy restarted exporting and importing goods since the pandemic, but also because of the building and construction industry going bust as a result and a housing market buckling under considerable strain. As somebody who has overseen tax in the corporate and government in recent months, worked in retail and assisted unions in this space I can say this is a part of the problem, but life can be made so much easier without the excessiveness of corporate greed, especially as dream to live in a fairer just society.
We must encourage supermarkets to find the means by pressure and new laws to reduce the prices for common goods. I know all of this from personal experience as I worked at Coles in all departments from my teens until early 20s while leaving high school to enter into university studies.
Ironically, I joined the SDA after leaving McDonalds (as one of my first jobs) while transitioning to Coles when I was 15. I left Coles to work in sales, odd labour jobs, union jobs, call center work, while also joining the Labor Party, inspired by the election of Kevin 07 and the platform he campaigned on, especially the Apology as a First Nations man. I left the ALP disillusioned by party infighting on environmental issues and lackluster efforts to do more in the retail space for workers. Also being an LGBTIQ man I found it extremely confronting that Labor didn’t do enough due to the SDA’s influence.
Former Labor leaders tried in their own way to make up for it as did Turnbull on the Coalition side. As more and more of my generation are accepting of ourselves in a more open environment its clear there is a sizeable LGBTIQ number in retail and fast-food workforces, which has ironically backfired on the social influence of the SDA in many ways and is a lesson to get back to what members actually want; not what ideological driven despots taking on positions of union organizers that should be filled by those that ultimately care about their workers and members.
Of course, not all in the SDA fit the mold and there are some good delegates who do the hard yards in any union. While this is increasingly a minority, there are genuine organizers no matter the union they hail from. Members of RAFFWU, for example, just want improved working conditions, better break times, and increased pay rates. Considering the huge wealth of the supermarket industry these requests are not unreasonable. But there is considerable lessons to heed from not only my personal experiences put forward, but history itself as well.
References:
ABC News In – depth (2024). Four Corners. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoo6XVxpiU8> accessed 26/03/2024
Australian Parliament. (2015). Patmore, G. Balnave, N. Consumer Co – operatives in Australia: Past, Present and Future. A Submission to Inquiry into cooperative, mutual and member – owned firms, Senate Economics References Committee, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 2600.
Bahr, Jessica (2023). SBS News. How much have grocery prices increased in Australia? <https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/how-much-have-grocery-prices-increased-in-australia/ocrfv5zut> accessed 22/03/2024.
Barber, S.M. (2007). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Sir Arthur William Coles (1892 – 1982) <https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/coles-sir-arthur-william-12334> accessed 22/03/2024.
Dyrenfurth, N. Bongiorno, F. (2011). A Little History of the Australian Labor Party.
Karp, P. (2024). Anthony Albanese announces year – long investigation into supermarket prices by ACCC. <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/25/anthony-albanese-announces-year-long-investigation-into-supermarket-prices-by-accc> accessed 22/03/2024.
Nellist, I. (2023). Supermarket workers take historic ‘superstrike’ Green Left Org. <https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/supermarket-workers-take-historic-superstrike> accessed 22/03/2024
Redlands Libraries| Redlands Coast Timelines Council. (2021).
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Callen Sorensen Karklis, Bachelor of Government and International Relations.
Callen is a Quandamooka Nunukul Aboriginal person from North Stradbroke Island. He has been the Secretary of the Qld Fabians in 2018, and the Assistant Secretary 2018 – 2019, 2016, and was more recently the Policy and Publications Officer 2020 – 2021. Callen previously was in Labor branch executives in the Oodgeroo (Cleveland areas), SEC and the Bowman FEC. He has also worked for Cr Peter Cumming, worked in market research, trade unions, media advertising, and worked in retail. He also ran for Redland City Council in 2020 on protecting the Toondah Ramsar wetlands. He also advised the Oodgeroo Teal campaign in 2020. He now active in the Redlands and Qld Greens. Callen is active in Redlands 2030, the Redlands Museum, and his local sports club at Victoria Pt Sharks Club. Callen also has a Diploma of Business and attained his tertiary education from Griffith University. He was a co-host from time to time on Workers Power 4ZZZ (FM 102.1) on Tuesday morning’s program Workers Power. He has also worked in government. Cal was a coordinator for Jos Mithcell’s Redlands Mayoral campaign in 2024.
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Greed. We are all subject to it. We want a good deal. We want the most for the least. We want the cheapest prices at the supermarket. Meanwhile, businesses are driven by shareholder return. Shareholders want a good return, so big businesses want to increase profits every year, otherwise their shareholders may desert them looking for better returns elsewhere. The major shareholders are big businesses themselves. A vicious circle. So businesses want to increase profits, we want the cheapest prices, and the actual producer is the one that gets screwed. Hard to see a way out of universal greed, and hard to see how this can’t, in the long run, end very badly.
@OldWomBat.
Cannot but agree that “…the actual producer is the one that gets screwed”.
This has been happening for a fair while and is leading to many producers contemplating leaving their industry.
At the same time we have the ACTU pushing for a 5 per cent increase in the upcoming annual wage review, only to be met by a claim that such an increase for low-paid workers will surely lead to an increase in inflation – apart from any other nightmare you might imagine.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2024/mar/28/the-push-against-wage-rises-has-begun-again-its-an-argument-for-australias-poorest-workers-to-become-poorer
Of course any business can claim that wages do constitute a persistent or on-going cost factor, but to claim that wages are the main, or only ingredient of inflation is nothing more than BS and fear-mongering.
A British marketing ‘expert’ came out to Australia and told Coles that to get more people in and to stay longer you need to put the milk and dairy products down the back of the supermarket as most people just want to pop in for a bottle of milk. So they have to go through the whole store and chances are they will buy some other crap while there.
Next you screw the dairy producers to supply milk at below the cost of production and you then sell it for a dollar a litre.
It worked, the punters rushed the cheap milk and bough other crap while they were there, Woolies followed Coles, the UK ‘expert’ retired on a big pension and the Australian dairy industry was f**ked .
Dairy farmers had to be bailed out by the government and many left the industry, some turned to beef cattle production. In my local area the producer owned co-operative dairy was sold to overseas interests and now only produces cheese.
Save us from overseas ‘experts’ !
I remember Mum joining the SDA in the early seventies when there was only one other union member in the store.
I felt such a rush of pride and admiration..she had guts.
The article seems to be about the old capital vs labour paradigm. IMHO, much better to run a country’s systems based upon commerce, industry, health and education than to allow the corruptions and biases of irrelevant abstractions of religion and supremacy to have affect.
Sadly, religion and supremacy predominated and had affect way before the rise up of other considerations, and maintain a blackmailing stranglehold to this day.
And of course the other main wrecker is usurous banking, another operation that is driven increasingly by self-serving mathematical abstractions that mandate growth despite the real affect of tangible externalities. Rather than their principal act as a safe-house for transactions, they increasingly drifted into their own industry of ivory towers of wealth accumulation, lending (or cross-investing) at significantly higher rates than they pay out for the opportunity to use depositer’s money, whilst ruthlessly redeeming (often at a loss to real value) mortgaged assets, despite even the temporary affects of tangible externalities on the mortgager’s stream of loan repayments.
This self-serving, ivory tower behavior of the banks has achieved a number of things; firstly, embedding them increasingly at the foundations of economies, and therefore politics and with it the temptation to exert a stranglehold. Secondly, and especially upon the push to privatize everything, the obsequious priority-serving of society’s accumulators, and facilitation of a non-transparent web of transfers and documentary troves and vaults desired by opportunists, tax avoiders and criminals – which these days can be made at the speed of light via obscure encryptions of 1s and 0s.
Despite the endless churn of regulation upon banking, there remains little chance of closing all the loopholes of opportunity afforded by the globalized industry, and the financial brinkmanship and instruments of political guile in jurisdiction jumping.
Given Oz systems were rooted in the British system, long time corrupted by religion and supremacy, and given Oz’ massive bounty of natural resources, the supremacy edicts mandated us as a feckless exporter, first to the old Dart, then to the world. Whilst labour unions served their purpose in Britain (and to a lesser extent America) through the days of the industrial revolution, in financially successful economies they were soon usurped by capital. In Oz, labour unions were only tolerated in times of labour shortage, when, other than for gold, no-one really wanted to come to the erstwhile hell-hole penitentiary at the dregs of the antipodes.
Of course, notions of a post-war paradise, drove us through tech and automation right into the arms of capital. Capital that magically appeared and disappeared through the war, and reappeared from the darkness to rebuild and reinvent everything. Hope manifested a rush of breeding, as if the agrarian imperative still prevailed. The banks and their entrapped flunky corporations, of course celebrated the growth of the client base and the opportunity to further the endless growth paradigm. And then later became almost hysterical upon the advent of digitization. Oh for the joy of further rapidity, secrecy and complexity. The masters of the world increased their supremacy by the prestidigitation of algorithms, paying lip-service only to social imperatives. Corporations went from houses of invention and product to houses of churn on treasury, leveraging buy-backs and take-overs, solely seeking dominance and power over diversity. Farmers, of course were forced by the system to incorporate or die, and whether they like it or not, become beholden to the prevailing (non-free) free-market system.
The resulting bucket of fiduciary spew, with bling on the side, was all that was offered up to balance the ordinary folk’s demand for survival. Since mechanization, automation and digitization, labour has accounted for less and less as a vital supply. To the troika, It has more become a squawking numeral of demand.
The entire extraction paradigm of the filthy troika of religion, supremacy and banking has been run aground by depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation and catastrophic anthropomorphic climate change. Their forsaking of equilibrium has brought the human system to its knees, yet the filthy troika don’t want to change the ways and means of their engorgement over centuries, if not millennia, so they press forth with hostile misinformation and disinformation to undermine and destabilize people’s parliaments and the democratic project, as usual putting the squeeze on ordinary folk.
So entrenched are the divisive corruptions of the filthy troika in community, industry, law and political philosophy and dialogue, that changing them by the squeaks of partisan politics and protest activism will not alone suffice, and neither the old methods of labour unionism. Everyone wants to be a millionaire. The issues surrounding the requisite changes are so complex, multifarious and urgent, they must be made by almost any means available, and that, I’m afraid to say, amongst the slings and arrows, is to leverage the wealth out of the opportunists and accumulators into liquidity for urgent major change, before they become stranded. Government dominating the stock market rather than the failing free-market norm.
Whilst it’s right, proper and decent for the Greens, activists and any sectional interest groups to restate the bleeding obvious and provide an endless stream of numbers related to their selected causes, they don’t have the skill determination or critical mass to bring about the urgent massive systemic changes needed. Suffice to say they make an important contribution of information to functional government so that it can wrangle and prioritize the very difficult line of social securities and stability amid the most pressing overall systemic changes mandated by the march of environmental catastrophe.
It is equally as important that the proponents of these causes not resort to political blackmail providing fuel to the sensation seeking self-serving mainstream media flunkies of the destructive trumpian fossil fuel funded LNP opposition who only seek to have their bums on seats via maintaining the old wrecking status quo of the filthy troika.
Perhaps, bottom-up multi-dimensional community-based fora for dialogue and prioritization might be a good feed-in to democracy in a more stable future, but for the urgency of the time being, rather than division and wanton blame, backing-in the system of elections, parliaments, executive government and public service may be most efficient and effective path.