Joint Statement by the MUA and Construction Divisions of the CFMEU on Federal Government Legislation to place the CFMEU under Administration
Published: 15 Aug 2024
MUA



15 August 2024

Dear members,

Joint Statement by the MUA and Construction Divisions of the CFMEU on Federal Government Legislation to place the CFMEU under Administration

This week, the Government introduced new laws that undermine the democratic rights of our union members to control their own future. This decision unfortunately reflects an extreme reaction to the anti-CFMEU rhetoric amplified by some conservative media outlets, and an entrenched political trade union opposition characterised by vilifying ordinary Australian working men and women and the trade union they choose to belong to.

This Government decision is an extension of the political objectives of its predecessor and their building and construction watchdog, the ABCC, which failed to explore the real issues of criminality and corruption that affect all of us in the industry through the use of untested allegations as a basis for an attack on our Union’s right to effectively preserve workers’ rights to equal access under law.

The Construction and General Division of the CFMEU and the MUA remain united in exposing this politically motivated, backdoor attack, to undermine and threaten the rights of construction workers. In an industry where abuse and the exploitation of power is already weaponised by employers against workers, and where health and safety run a distant second to their profits and schedules, this legislation furthers the danger faced by construction workers daily and leaves them exposed to the criminality and corruption the legislation ironically purports to stamp out.

Our strength as genuine trade unionists is in our unity. Both Construction and General and the MUA will do everything within our collective power to secure an outcome in the best interests of CFMEU members.

A forced administration through the terms of the legislation, devoid of any real consultation with actual construction workers and the forced isolation from their elected representatives, does nothing to improve the lives and safety of CFMEU members. In fact, it further entrenches the systemic imbalance of power between construction bosses and construction workers.

It is worth remembering that this legislation was lobbed into the Parliament as discussions between the CFMEU and the Fair Work Commission about its proposal for administration were taking place in a properly consultative and transparent process.

The CFMEU and MUA have a renowned, shared history over more than 152 years of representing Australian workers in some of the toughest and most dangerous workplaces, supporting and progressing their social and working lives whilst making the most important contribution to the health and safety of all workers across the sector, extending that progress to other workers throughout Australia and then internationally.

All Australian workers have benefited from our Union’s steadfast and resolute commitment to workers’ safety, economic justice and job security. We have been and remain the rising tide which lifts the conditions and safety standards throughout the economy as the basis for workplace productivity and wage justice.

For that, governments and many in big business have never stopped trying to weaken us to their partisan advantage.

Make no mistake: this legislation, the basis for it and the method of its introduction in its current form is a blunt and open attack on workers, their physical, material and social wellbeing, and their right to collectively represent and defend themselves, which is a basic human right.

We have made it clear that corruption and criminality have absolutely no place in unions, the construction sector, or in Australian society more broadly. Any allegations relating to criminality and corruption are serious. Where this behaviour is alleged, it should be investigated by the relevant authorities.

For our part, we immediately initiated an independent and wide-ranging investigative process, to support any investigation by authorities, focused on exposing any criminal behaviour and many other actions demonstrating our resolve.

However, we are used to being targeted by anti-union business interests and the governments that support them. What drives and motivates those attacks is that the CFMEU is a strong and effective trade union and our membership do not bend to weaponised power.

We have seen countless examples of corporate criminality in recent years, including in the construction industry, but we don’t see the same appetite for this type of unilateral action in other cases of criminal misconduct.

Right now, we have an ASIC investigation into ANZ potentially defrauding Australian taxpayers on an unprecedented scale – but the Government has not legislated to place the ANZ into administration, instead allowing the authorities do their job and providing procedural fairness and natural justice. The principles have been denied to construction workers and their union.

In the waterfront dispute of 1998, when Patricks sacked its entire workforce after conspiring with the Coalition Government to replace its workforce with secretly recruited and trained non-union labour trained in Dubai, the international community recognised this as one of the worst instances of anti-union conspiracy.

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That's one way to spin it.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-19/government-strikes-deal-to-pass-cfmeu-administration-laws/104243386

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