Australian construction strikes take on union-busting Labor government
The Labor government boasts that its attack on the CFMEU is ‘the strongest action that any government has ever taken against any union’
Workers on the picket line with visiting NTEU members from Sydney University during the Australian construction strikes
(Picture: RAFA via Solidarity)
By Ian Rintoul in Sydney
Thursday 19 September 2024
It is the second strike in the month. Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese’s government used unsubstantiated smears in the media to impose state control of the CFMEU’s construction division, which organises building, forestry and maritime workers.
The union is now controlled by Labor’s workplace minister Murray Watt and his flunkey, administrator-in-chief Mark Irving.
The administrator has the power to remove elected officials and delegates and sack organisers employed by the union.
There are penalties of up to two years’ jail and almost $1 million fines for obstructing the administrator.
Irving’s first act was to sack elected officials in three states and remove 270 members who were democratically elected to union committees. He’s also sacked three organisers in Brisbane.
This is a shocking act of betrayal from Labor. The party made a particular point of acknowledging the union movement when it was elected two years ago, but has consistently moved to rightwards since.
Labor has shown its true colours by using Tory votes in parliament and siding with the construction industry bosses. It’s the most appalling act of union-busting since a Labor government deregistered the predecessor of the CFMEU, the Builders Labourers’ Federation, in 1986.
Watt boasted that Labor’s attack is “the strongest action that any government has ever taken against any union”.
In 1998, the then Australian Tory government’s attempt to smash the Maritime Union of Australia was defeated when the whole union movement stood behind it. This time, however, the ACTU union federation has junked any union principles and is slavishly supporting the Labor government.
Only three unions—the electricians’, plumbers’ and maritime workers’ unions—opposed the CFMEU being suspended from the ACTU.
The CFMEU has long been a thorn in the side of the construction bosses. It has a history of militancy and a willingness to defy anti-union laws that impose the most severe restrictions on the right to strike in a liberal democracy.
The CFMEU has racked up tens of millions of dollars in fines for taking unlawful industrial action. And, according to the government, the union has broken industrial laws 2,600 times in the past 20 years. That is the militancy that Labor and the bosses want to crush.
Construction bosses have been quick to take advantage as the administrator is able to sack organisers and remove delegates if they are involved in any unlawful action.
Some employers are refusing to sign a new workplace agreement that would have given construction workers 5 percent wage rises.
The CFMEU is mounting a High Court challenge to the Labor government’s legislation. But such a challenge will take months and will channel rank-and-file anger with Labor into a legal dead end.
The real power to beat the Labor government’s administrator—and the anti-union laws—are strikes. The action has brought construction workers and their supporters out in every major city.
The unions covering electricians and plumbers have put over $1 million into the High Court action—money that would be better used for a strike fund.
A strike, even by the three main unions supporting the CFMEU, would be enough to beat back the administration. The two days of strike action so far have been unlawful, but no action has been taken against any of the unions involved.
The Labor government’s attack on the CFMEU has sent shock waves through the labour movement. The plumbers’ union has disaffiliated from the ACTU and is calling for a union summit within the next three months to set up an alternative.
Many rank-and-file union members have voted Labor all their lives. But they are now confronted with the reality that Labor is more willing to openly collaborate with the bosses than represent the workers it relies on to win elections.
If the anger of workers in the construction and allied industries is mobilised, they can beat Labor’s union-busting administration.
More grassroots organising and strikes defying the law are needed to defend the CFMEU and end the enforced administration.
Ian Rintoul is a member of Solidarity, the Socialist Workers Party’s sister organisation in Australia
Thursday 19 September 2024
SOCIALIST WORKER Issue
Over 60,000 construction workers in Australia are striking this week over the Labor government’s disgraceful attack on their union.It is the second strike in the month. Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese’s government used unsubstantiated smears in the media to impose state control of the CFMEU’s construction division, which organises building, forestry and maritime workers.
The union is now controlled by Labor’s workplace minister Murray Watt and his flunkey, administrator-in-chief Mark Irving.
The administrator has the power to remove elected officials and delegates and sack organisers employed by the union.
There are penalties of up to two years’ jail and almost $1 million fines for obstructing the administrator.
Irving’s first act was to sack elected officials in three states and remove 270 members who were democratically elected to union committees. He’s also sacked three organisers in Brisbane.
This is a shocking act of betrayal from Labor. The party made a particular point of acknowledging the union movement when it was elected two years ago, but has consistently moved to rightwards since.
Labor has shown its true colours by using Tory votes in parliament and siding with the construction industry bosses. It’s the most appalling act of union-busting since a Labor government deregistered the predecessor of the CFMEU, the Builders Labourers’ Federation, in 1986.
Watt boasted that Labor’s attack is “the strongest action that any government has ever taken against any union”.
In 1998, the then Australian Tory government’s attempt to smash the Maritime Union of Australia was defeated when the whole union movement stood behind it. This time, however, the ACTU union federation has junked any union principles and is slavishly supporting the Labor government.
Only three unions—the electricians’, plumbers’ and maritime workers’ unions—opposed the CFMEU being suspended from the ACTU.
The CFMEU has long been a thorn in the side of the construction bosses. It has a history of militancy and a willingness to defy anti-union laws that impose the most severe restrictions on the right to strike in a liberal democracy.
The CFMEU has racked up tens of millions of dollars in fines for taking unlawful industrial action. And, according to the government, the union has broken industrial laws 2,600 times in the past 20 years. That is the militancy that Labor and the bosses want to crush.
Construction bosses have been quick to take advantage as the administrator is able to sack organisers and remove delegates if they are involved in any unlawful action.
Some employers are refusing to sign a new workplace agreement that would have given construction workers 5 percent wage rises.
The CFMEU is mounting a High Court challenge to the Labor government’s legislation. But such a challenge will take months and will channel rank-and-file anger with Labor into a legal dead end.
The real power to beat the Labor government’s administrator—and the anti-union laws—are strikes. The action has brought construction workers and their supporters out in every major city.
The unions covering electricians and plumbers have put over $1 million into the High Court action—money that would be better used for a strike fund.
A strike, even by the three main unions supporting the CFMEU, would be enough to beat back the administration. The two days of strike action so far have been unlawful, but no action has been taken against any of the unions involved.
The Labor government’s attack on the CFMEU has sent shock waves through the labour movement. The plumbers’ union has disaffiliated from the ACTU and is calling for a union summit within the next three months to set up an alternative.
Many rank-and-file union members have voted Labor all their lives. But they are now confronted with the reality that Labor is more willing to openly collaborate with the bosses than represent the workers it relies on to win elections.
If the anger of workers in the construction and allied industries is mobilised, they can beat Labor’s union-busting administration.
More grassroots organising and strikes defying the law are needed to defend the CFMEU and end the enforced administration.
Ian Rintoul is a member of Solidarity, the Socialist Workers Party’s sister organisation in Australia
No comments:
Post a Comment