CFMEU boss John Setka will control SA industry within weeks, SA’s construction lobby warns

The Premier has been warned the militant Victoria-based union is just weeks away from seizing control of the industry in SA for good.

Militant union leader John Setka will control the state’s construction industry forever and funnel millions of dollars into Victoria unless Premier Peter Malinauskas “mans up” within weeks, builders warn.

Challenging the state government to stand up to Mr Setka’s CFMEU, Master Builders SA chief executive officer Will Frogley warned the Victorian-controlled SA branch would seize on a 21 per cent pay deal struck in Melbourne on Monday.

A union member declared “there aren’t enough Ford Rangers in the country” after the CFMEU backed the four-year enterprise bargaining agreement, saying “apprentices will have (Ford) Raptors (costing up to $110,000).

John Setka in Melbourne on Monday after the vote on a new enterprise bargaining agreement. Picture: Aaron Francis

The Setka-led CFMEU Victorian branch formally took control of the SA construction union operation in August 2022, prompting warnings employers would be forced to pay workers’ entitlements into a Victorian fund, Incolink, rather than an SA-based BIRST scheme.

Mr Malinauskas in June last year vowed the state was willing to deploy powers to throttle the construction industry moving to Incolink, telling parliament that the Victorian scheme’s cost was substantially higher than the SA model but had similar coverage.

Master Builders SA CEO Will Frogley with Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: NewsWire / Roy VanDerVegt

But Mr Frogley warned the CFMEU would use forthcoming pay talks to demand SA employers massively increase payments to Incolink, which last year gave the union $20m.

He also predicted the CFMEU would pressure builders to allow officials on site, regardless of whether they had a right-of-entry permit.

“If the State Government doesn’t act within weeks John Setka will have won and the Victorian CFMEU will control our industry forever more, with millions of our dollars funnelled into Victoria,” he said.

“We only have to look at the past week with the AFL to see the CFMEU equals stand-over tactics, cost blowouts and delays on important SA projects.

“The CFMEU is run out of Melbourne. Their modus operandi is based on SA money leaving the state and ending up in Victoria. If the State Government doesn’t man up and actually do something, they will achieve this through Incolink, and continue to exert influence over who wins work, at the expense of local businesses.

“It’s time for the Premier to step up on this one. He promised a year ago he would look into Incolink.”

Mr Malinauskas last June said he had met with Master Builders SA and promised to examine the “legitimate levers the state has at its disposal” on the Incolink issue, even though some had been adopted federally.

“Nonetheless, there are still various acts and powers and functions that exist with the state that we’re willing to deploy, should that opportunity present itself and should the need arise,” he told parliament.

Opposition Leader David Speirs on Tuesday accused Mr Malinauskas of being “arrogantly dismissive” when the Liberals warned him almost two years ago “about the danger of John Setka and the CFMEU’s infiltration” into SA’s building industry.

“Peter Malinauskas failed to stand up to CFMEU then but must act now while there is still time to save local builders from union bullies. It’s time for Peter Malinauskas to put his money where his mouth is and deliver on Labor’s promise to stop the construction industry transitioning to Incolink,” he said.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith did not directly respond to Advertiser questions about whether the SA branch would pursue similar conditions to the newly minted Victorian agreement.

But he said SA construction workers “deserve a fair pay rise and we’ll be fighting hard to ensure the next EBA delivers exactly that”.

“The CFMEU makes no apologies for fighting for and winning fair pay rises and safer conditions for our members all across the country,” he said.

“Let’s not forget, construction is one of the most dangerous industries in Australia and workers are still enduring a cost-of-living crisis so there’s simply no case for employers to oppose a decent pay increase.”

The CFMEU Facebook page on June 5 issued a “Big McNo” to an enterprise bargaining agreement with Adelaide-based McMahon Services and associated firm Asurco.