As will be demonstrated below, the Government's real objection to pattern bargaining is centered on its collective, union initiated character. Indeed, the Government explicitly promotes a double standard in respect to enterprise bargaining. That is, the Government is quite happy to promote pattern bargaining where the effect is to impose pre-determined employer parameters, but not where it reflects a desire by workers for new benefits or real wage increases. The desire of unions to pursue common or uniform claims in an industry or sector derives from a number of fundamental motives. Foremost amongst these is the collectivist culture of unionism itself.
Unionism constitutes a denial by workers of a radical individualist ethos.
The act of joining a trade union is an affirmation of the basic notion that an individual worker is in an unequal bargaining position with his or her employer. However much the Government would have it otherwise, the very large number of Australian workers that continue to be represented by unions is a testament to this fact. Flowing from this basic realisation are feelings of group identity and solidarity which in turn, gives rise to the concept of comparative wage justice. Comparative wage justice is simply, the idea that similarly skilled workers doing similar work, should receive similar wages . It is a basic and enduring idea in the Australian workplace.