Australia’s “bully” construction union will continue to work on major projects in Victoria despite being placed under administration, legal experts and the opposition have warned.
The Victorian branch of the CFMEU was placed under administration on Monday following reports that bikers were acting as shop stewards, including one official who earned $250,000 a year as a health and safety officer.
But the collapse of the sector will have no impact on Victorians building their own homes or even massive infrastructure projects, experts predict.
The union’s national office has now assumed executive control, overriding the state branch, following the resignation of John Setka as Victorian secretary.
But employment law expert Professor Andrew Stewart warned that CFMEU officials will continue to oversee Victorian construction sites despite the state branch being placed under administration.
“It has no legal effect, unlike what would happen if, which is currently unlikely, the union’s registration was cancelled,” the University of Adelaide academic told Daily Mail Australia.
This means the CFMEU will continue to have absolute control over major projects, including the state Labor government’s $90 billion Big Build program, which covers 165 road and rail projects.
Opposition employment and industrial relations spokeswoman Senator Michaelia Cash said the union would continue its “bullying” behaviour unless it was deregistered.
“The appalling behaviour at the CFMEU, including violence, vandalism, intimidation and harassment, has been going on for a number of years,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
Australia’s militant construction union will continue to have access to sites in Victoria despite being placed under administration, legal expert says
“It is time for this union to resign. They have made it clear for several years that they have no intention of changing their ways.
“They need to start over.”
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has so far refused to call for the deregistration despite The damaging Nine Network investigation in the union.
“The fact that John Setka is gone is a start; it is by no means the end of what needs to be done,” he told ABC Insiders on Sunday.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that criminal elements, such as people who are part of illegal motorcycle gangs, should take the place of delegates on the premises.”
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union national secretary Zach Smith said on Monday he would act to clean up the Victorian branch.
“The CFMEU has zero tolerance for criminality and anyone found to have engaged in criminal conduct whilst representing the CFMEU will be identified and terminated,” he said.
The CFMEU congratulated Premier Anthony Albanese for abolishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission, a coalition government agency that had targeted the Labor-affiliated construction union, in December 2022.
“Anthony Albanese and the Labour Party had a clear mandate to abolish the ABCC,” he said at the time.
Former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke dissolved the old Builders’ Federation in 1986 due to its misconduct and the Coalition now wants the CFMEU to suffer the same fate.
Professor John Buchanan, an industrial relations expert at the University of Sydney, said the CFMEU was formed to break away from the BLF, where burly, unskilled workers were actively recruited to intimidate management.
“The idea of forming the CFMEU was to try and push that out, but in the end, the problematic forces ended up taking over,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The CFMEU was supposed to put the carpenters in charge, but in the end, the workers ended up taking control: what an irony!
“The problem has always been more serious in Victoria.”
Last month, the Victorian branch of the CFMEU secured a 21 per cent pay rise for its members over four years.
The union’s national office voted to assume executive powers, overriding the state branch after John Setka resigned as Victorian secretary.
Professor Buchanan said corruption in the construction industry, involving both unions and construction companies, was a global problem.
“It’s not militancy but corruption that’s the problem,” he said.
There is a lot of corruption in the construction industry and this is not something unique to Australia.
“If you talk to anyone honest in the construction industry, they’ll tell you that the problems are simply builders not honouring contracts – there’s a lot of money and a lot of uncertainty.”
Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn has called on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate the CFMEU rather than allowing the national branch to take over the Victorian division.
“A self-appointed internal investigation simply will not suffice,” he said.
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