Property developer and rich lister, Tim Gurner, has put his hand up to become the most hated CEO in Australia.
At Tuesday’s AFR Property Summit, Gurner demanded a 40% to 50% increase in unemployment and lower wages to make Australian workers grateful of having a job:
Gurner Group founder Tim Gurner tells the Financial Review Property Summit workers have become “arrogant” since COVID and “We’ve got to kill that attitude.” https://t.co/lcX3CCxGuj pic.twitter.com/f9HK2YZRRE
— Financial Review (@FinancialReview) September 12, 2023
Get a load of this transcript:
“I think the problem we have had is that people decided they didn’t want to work much anymore through COVID and that has had a massive issue on productivity”.
“Tradies have definitely pulled back on productivity. They have been paid a lot to do not too much in the last few years and we need that to change”.
“We need to see unemployment rise. Unemployment has to jump 40% to 50% in my view”.
“We need to see pain in the economy. We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around”.
“There has been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them, as opposed to the other way around”.
“So, it’s a dynamic that has to change. We’ve gotta kill that attitude, and that has to come through hurting the economy, which is what the whole global, world, is trying to do”.
“Governments around the world are trying to increase unemployment to get that to some sort of normality and we’re seeing it”.
“I think every employer now is seeing it. I mean there is definitely massive layoffs going off”.
“People may not be talking about it, but people are definitely laying people off and we’re starting to see less arrogance in the employment market. And that has to continue because that will cascade across the cost balance”.
In other words: work harder slaves.
But seriously, has Tim Gurner not realised that average real wages have collapsed:
And does he not see the irony in calling for workers to suffer when corporate profits and CEO pay has boomed over the pandemic?
Talent attraction might be a problem for Tim going forward. Many would now prefer to walk over hot coals than work for him.
