By Andrew Martin and Barry Healy

In what is described as a “full frontal attack”, ALP Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt on August 12 introduced legislation into the Senate designed to cripple the operation of the Construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU). However, the Bill immediately became stuck as the Greens oppose the legislation outright and the Coalition wants to toughen it further. It was rejected in a senate vote on August 16.

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt wanted the power to impose an administrator to manage the division for three years, overriding the objections of the union.

In a tub-thumping statement worthy of a Liberal Party trade union basher, Watt said: “Our legislation is a critical step towards ridding organised crime from the construction industry once and for all.”

All union officers, employees and professional advisers would be forced to co-operate with the administrator. Any failing to comply faced expulsion from the union for up to five years and possibly two years imprisonment.

As CFMEU national secretary, Zack Smith mildly pointed out in a letter to the minister on August 8, Watt’s allegations had “not been tested by any court or tribunal, and the union’s rules require procedural fairness to be afforded to all persons whose interests are directly affected by any steps taken to address the allegations”.

Following Watt’s announcement of his legislation, Smith wrote to CFMEU members saying “the government has undermined the legal process and stripped us of our rights to a fair process.”

Smith concentrated on the government’s abuse of process, but more than that the ALP is seeking to deliver to the bosses the hog-tied body of the only union that has achieved real wage increases for its members in the recent past. It is competing with the Coalition in the game of destroying unions in order to drive down wages.

Opposition workplace spokesperson, Michaelia Cash was quoted in the Age as saying that appointing an administrator for three years is insufficient and “worse than that, individuals can only be banned for up to five years.” Previously, the Coalition has called for the CFMEU to be deregistered.

Greens leader, Adam Bandt said his party objected to the legislation as “a matter of principle about what laws should apply across workplaces to ensure that everyone has a safe workplace.”

“Building Bad” scandal

It has been impossible to miss the capitalist media pile on alleging corruption and intimidation within the CFMEU’s Construction branch. This has resulted in top-level actions within the ALP to variously suspend the union’s affiliation or to refuse to accept its financial contributions and ultimately to attempt to force administration on to the construction division.

The ALP’s actions have been described by CFMEU Queensland branch secretary Michael Ravbar as “opening the gates of hell” on union members. Queensland branch would be subject to the same forcible administration despite not being named in the prominent accusation levelled against the union.

Starting on the weekend of July 13, Nine News outlets – The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes – claim to have “uncovered” bribery and intimidation by Australia’s largest construction union.

The sensationalist stories were run as a series entitled “Building Bad” and has since spilt out across the mass media. The ABC’s Insiders labelled the CFMEU a “broken union”, with “underworld infiltration” that uses “standover tactics” and engages in “cartel behaviour”.

The standard of reporting is shown by an August 13 ABC News story interviewing a “construction industry insider” who alleged intimidating behaviour from CFMEU officials. The workplace health and safety contractor said that CFMEU officials swore at him and on one occasion pushed him over in 2020. That resulted in a ruling in his favour from the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

The ABC gives no explanation for why there was a serious dispute about workplace safety. Construction has the third highest fatality rate of any industry in Australia in 2023 according to Work Safe Australia, yet the CFMEU’s record in defending workers from serious injury or death does not enter most media discussion.

The ABC report also contains a video of building workers at a Queensland site preventing Australian workers Union (AWU) officials from entering. The supporting text confuses the role of trade union officials and union members, misrepresenting the entire event. Rank-and-file building workers have the right to choose a union that protects them and to protect themselves from union officials who are notorious for working with the bosses.

The ABC’s dramatically pixilated vision is contextualised with a quote from Civil Contractors Federation CEO, Nicholas Proud: “What we’re seeing is frankly disgusting, it’s hard to watch, it’s defying belief that this is taking place in Australia.”

Smear not prosecution

Compared with the scale of public attacks, little substantial or damning “evidence” has come to light against the union. 9 Media’s “Building Bad” coverage revolves around sensational claims of Bikie and criminal infiltration of the union. But on their own evidence only four union members or officials in Victoria are also members or ex-members of motorcycle clubs. The union has hundreds of officials and tens of thousands of members.

In exactly what industry would Bikies or ex-bikies be expected to work if they are to be excluded from the building industry?

The principal 9 Media claim of corruption revolves around audio of “business consultant” Harry Korras who is not part of the CFMEU. The businessman claimed, on tape, to have connections and influence and asked a construction company for money to use those. Yet Korras’s claims have never been verified.

The coverage relies on photos and recordings obtained by police bugs in union offices.  However, if the police had confidence in their evidence why have they leaked these to the media and not put together a brief of evidence for prosecution?

The reality behind that is contained in words the Australian Financial Review quoted from Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton on July 16. “There’s potential threats, there’s influence potential in contracts,” he said. “Whether it meets the criminal threshold, though, is a different matter.”

Any trial arising from this evidence is now compromised by the publicity.

9 Media tries to make a huge deal of footage showing ex-Victorian state secretary John Setka – who has now resigned – placing a bag with the words “Leo the dog” written on it, in the driveway of a rival official. CFMEU assistant national secretary Leo Skourdoumbis is seeking to break the manufacturing division away from the CFMEU as a whole – and so obviously in bitter dispute. He was featured at length on 60 minutes acting as key prosecution witness for the trial by media.

In large part the attacks rely on reminding the public to dislike John Setka, who was found guilty in 2019 of stalking and harassment of his then wife and ALP power broker Emma Walters. Setka was then expelled from the ALP as a result.

While Setka may not be a likeable character, that is also the case for many trade union officials – like Bill Shorten for example. Anyway, what sort of characters should we expect to see in the leadership of a union fighting the notoriously corrupt and violent construction companies in the political context of Australia in 2024, when the broader trade union movement and political consciousness among workers is yet to recover from a long period of decline.

The character of John Setka and his associates is completely beside the point. He is a convenient way to publicly demonise the CFMEU, but state attacks on the CFMEU and its predecessors go back in history a lot longer than Setka. The CFMEU’s real crime is its effectiveness in securing a greater portion of the building spend for workers’ wages and conditions.

The CFMEU’s industrial success can be seen in Victorian branch video in June where officials explained the latest Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) win to a mass meeting of members. The union had secured 20 percent pay rises over four years, while other unions are only achieving below inflation pay rises. The union members’ and officials’ rugged working-class style is clearly seen in the video.

ALP faction fighting

Is this scandal, in large part, a dust up between factions within the ALP, an outbreak of old-fashioned Labor opportunism?

Many of the 9 Media exposés relate competition between the CFMEU and the less industrially effective Australian Workers Union (AWU) for coverage of various construction sites. The AWU and CFMEU are factional opponents within the federal ALP structure.

The fact that former AWU leader, Bill Shorten is leading the political charge against the CFMEU draws attention to the factional nature of the attacks. His ministerial position has nothing to do with industrial relations, but his interventions have perfectly coincided with the Nine News stories.

Well-connected ALP observer, Guy Rundle, writing in Crikey.com on August 12 gives a minute analysis of the different factional line-ups involved in not only the CFMEU but other unions’ internal battles as well. He says different factions and groupings within factions are busy at the moment leaking dirt to mainstream media outlets to destroy opponents.

Rundle argues, “this sudden outbreak of integrity in the Labor/labour movement is less to do with resolute conscience than with clearing the decks for seats and alliances ahead of the upcoming election.”

NSW premier Chris Minns suspended the CFMEU from the Labor party. The national executive of the Labor Party has also cut ties and blocked donations. It is the ALP Government that has taken legislation to Federal Parliament.

Queensland and Northern Territory CFMEU secretary, Michael Ravbar blasted these machinations in a July 17 statement.

“The Albanese Labor Government has opened the gates of hell for tens of thousands of workers as he scrambles to shield the big end of town and his Labor mates from scrutiny about links to the criminal underworld,” the statement said.

Whatever the role of internal ALP brawling, the construction industry bosses are smelling blood and are hoping to wind-back the CFMEU’s workplace victories.

Administrators not deregistration

Why has the ALP moved to hobble the CFMEU with administrators rather than deregister it as a union, as initially demanded by Liberal Party leader, Peter Dutton?

The answer was given by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke on July 17:

“If we simply went down the deregistration path, we would have an organisation still capable of bargaining and doing the entire business model we’ve been seeing reported over recent days with no layer of regulation or additional oversight that applies to registered organisations.”

The irony is that under John Howard’s WorkChoices legislation, unregistered organisations can operate as bargaining agents. A deregistered CFMEU could still achieve the high pay and good conditions it has famously won on construction sites.

“It would be a gift to the worst elements and I have no intention of going down that path,” Burke said.

The ALP is presenting itself as the best friend the bosses have ever had, delivering union busting that the LNP can only rhetorically wish for.

What is under attack

Over the years the CFMEU has won significant amounts of money for building workers and sub-contractors from rogue construction companies that have declared bankruptcy, a common dodge for crooked bosses. It is well known that union sites are safe sites in an industry in which workers lose their lives too often.

Recently, the CFMEU has achieved excellent EBAs, guaranteeing good wages for workers in the rough and tumble construction industry.

These are the things the building bosses and their parliamentary champions are attacking.

On July 14 the NSW Master Builders Association called for “the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) to commence a review of CFMEU activities including whether recent EBAs were in fact genuinely agreed.”

They also call for “a cross-jurisdiction police strike force to investigate the allegations which is sufficiently resourced.” The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is calling for a Royal Commission.

However, as the NSW MBA admits:

“There have been four royal commissions, hundreds of court judgments, and dozens of other reports and independent inquires that forensically examined the unlawful and illegal conduct of building unions.”

“They all reached the same conclusion – there are problems unique to building and construction, and therefore there is a need for an industry-specific workplace regulator or specific rules for the industry.”

The MBA fails to mention that no successful legal actions arose against building unions out of those royal commissions, which is possibly why the government may be reluctant to go down that path.

As Qld and NT CFMEU secretary, Michael Ravbar explained:

“The CFMEU has repeatedly stated it will cooperate with any criminal investigation, as we know the real crooks in this industry are the civil contractors and their cronies.”

“The sad reality is that it’s the major civil companies that have brought the unsavory elements on government-funded projects, and yet Albanese knows that a thorough investigation will put Labor Governments in a world of pain. Albanese is selective about his interest in criminal associations and willingly ignorant about our industry.”

As CFMEU national secretary Zack Smith told his members in his August 9 letter: “The government’s proposed legislation is a full-frontal attack on our Union and they are playing politics with the serious issues of criminal conduct in our industry. Our number one priority will always be improving the wages and conditions for workers in our industry and we will not stop our work.”