AUSTRALIA
Stop the attack on the CFMEU: Solidarity with construction workers!
The Socialist Alliance stands in solidarity with the Construction Division of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) which is facing the biggest attack since it formed in 1992.
All CFMEU construction branches on the east coast, including South Australia and Tasmania, will be run by an external, supposedly independent, administrator due to allegations of corruption.
Targeted reviews of enterprise agreements (EAs) will be done to expose alleged coercion.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has suspended the construction division from the peak body until it demonstrates it is “clean” and “free of any criminal elements”.
The Victorian and NSW branches of the Labor party have suspended the CFMEU’s affiliation.
This all happened in less than five working days after a number of unproven allegations were made by Channel 9’s 60 Minutes regarding corruption in the CFMEU.
The attacks are designed to leave the union rudderless, isolated and confused after years of being the pacesetter for wage increases and improvements in conditions.
The government-media attacks have nothing to do with improving the lives of tens of thousands of construction workers.
The idea that more than 30,000 CFMEU members in Victoria alone are kept in check by gangsters and stand-over merchants is ridiculous and an insult to union members.
The CFMEU has grown in recent years, winning great loyalty from members because it fights for their rights in a dangerous, rapacious industry which is making multibillion dollar profits.
The double standards involved in the recent allegations of corruption are breathtaking. There is no mention of bosses who allegedly pay extortion money to purported underworld negotiators.
Nor has there been mention of the alleged incident in June 2020, at a Victorian site, run by a developer who illegally demolished the heritage-listed Corkman Pub.
In that incident two CFMEU organisers were allegedly attacked by seven people during a safety inspection. One official, who was knocked unconscious, has not been able to work for four years.
As CFMEU Qld/NT secretary Michael Ravbar said on July 17: “The CFMEU has repeatedly stated it will co-operate 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.”
Successive governments have sought to blame construction unions for industry losses during economic downturns. They have reviled the union for setting an example of militant fightback to other unions.
There have been bitter deregistrations, innumerable royal commissions and an industry watchdog set up with special cop powers for the building industry — the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
But each of these attacks has led to regroupment and eventually increased unity among construction workers.
This has meant that the union remains an inspiration for all workers and explains why the ruling class wants to break its power. They cannot increase profits at the expense of wages while the CFMEU sets the pace.
The bosses’ threat to overturn CFMEU EAs is an attack on all workers. It shows that the real reason for their attack is about driving down workers’ wages and conditions, not corruption in the industry as the latter would involve an investigation into bosses who employ criminals.
The claims that high wages in the construction industry push up construction prices everywhere conveniently ignores the fact that so many infrastructure projects, at least in Victoria, allow companies supplying cement, steel and other construction materials to get away with massively jacking up their prices.
This assault from the Labor Party, with Coalition support, on the CFMEU using salacious corporate media “investigations”, should worry anyone concerned about workers’ rights and justice.
The ACTU leadership has made a serious mistake in falling in behind this attack on the whole CFMEU leadership, who are being painted as corrupt, vicious, vengeful and macho in the extreme.
Unless there is serious resistance, there is a danger that workers will lose confidence in their union and various legal manoeuvres will be used to deregister the Construction Division.
Socialist Alliance opposes corruption in our unions, as we know it undermines unity and opens them up to attack. If there is wrongdoing in unions, union members need to sort it out themselves.
The only thing to come from state intervention, at the insistence of bosses and the corporate media, is the erosion of workers’ wages and conditions and more workplace deaths.
Remember this is an industry where one worker is killed every 10 to 14 days already.
What will happen now if there is no strong worker’s representative fighting to defend workers against cost cutting that leads to illegal and dangerous work practices? Workers will tell you it’s only their union — the CFMEU — that makes the difference.
Socialist Alliance opposes deregistration and government intervention into the CFMEU.
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