CFMEU members are right to rage, but they’re railing at the wrong people

The building union workers who rallied in capital cities around the nation on Tuesday are right to be angry, but their anger at the Labor Party, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the ACTU is misdirected.

It’s the CFMEU bosses, such as John Setka, Darren Greenfield and Derek Christopher, who have betrayed union members.

These three union leaders are the ones who have weakened the union – and, by extension, its ability to negotiate pay rises and protect worker safety.

John Setka’s domestic violence-related behaviour risked turning the union branch he led in Victoria into a pariah, while his decision to let bikies and underworld figures into CFMEU ranks guaranteed it. Why does the latter matter?

Case study after case study, including the example of Synergy Scaffolding published by this masthead on Monday, has shown how union-backed firms with underworld links rip off workers and compromise their safety.

When alliances between the underworld and the union are finally revealed, as with our earlier revelations that plunged the CFMEU into crisis and administration, governments are compelled to act.

If Setka had focused on running a clean union rather than a branch infested with self-interested cliques (there are bikie union sub-factions as well as other groupings), it wouldn’t have changed the union’s militancy and ability to demand pay rises.

That power rests on the union’s unique ability to disrupt building projects. Had Setka stuck to that, he would have probably safeguarded the union against the sort of government intervention that his supporters are now decrying.

Why didn’t Setka stop underworld infiltration of the union? There are different theories. Some close to him say he was worried about heat from his enemies and believed bikie-linked figures would provide a level of protection.

Another theory run by those close to Setka is that he simply liked hanging out with figures like Mick Gatto and other alleged underworld identities. If Setka’s ego drove his decision to risk the union he was meant to protect, it’s even more unforgivable. Whatever the reason for Setka’s selfishness, the impact is the same. He exposed the union to scandal and government intervention.

Darren Greenfield speaks at a CFMEU members protest outside NSW Parliament House.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

NSW CFMEU boss Darren Greenfield did the same. He stands accused by police of taking bribes in return for pushing a plastering company that employed Chinese workers onto big projects. Greenfield denies the charges and is entitled to his day in court and the presumption of innocence.

But his decision to cling on to power after being charged with corruption offences in 2021 is similarly unforgivable.

While Greenfield’s selfishness is sickening, his enablers – such as CFMEU president Rita Mallia, who simply ignored the alleged corruption while rallying the union troops this week – display their own brand of shameless self-interest.

Mallia did next to nothing to clean up CFMEU corruption when it was first exposed a decade ago. Instead, she closed ranks.

Former CFMEU leaders Rob Kera, Rita Mallia and Darren Greenfield at the protest outside Parliament House in Sydney.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Back then, Greenfield sycophants could take legitimate shots at the Abbott government’s utterly politicised royal commission and its failure to prompt institutional reform.

Even so, genuine CFMEU corruption was dug up. In failing to act on it, both Mallia and Greenfield left the union vulnerable to the action Albanese now had no choice but to take.

Derek Christopher, Victorian assistant secretary and Setka’s anointed successor, is also accused of corruption.

He is suspected of taking kickbacks in the form of freebies from the big building companies the CFMEU has to negotiate with over wages and to ensure safety.

Victoria’s CFMEU assistant secretary, Derek Christopher.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

There is no suggestion from this masthead that Christopher is guilty of an offence, a finding that can only be made by a court.

In Queensland, CFMEU state secretary Michael Ravbar, while not accused of corruption or domestic violence, has not done enough to prevent a culture of violence and intimidation from permeating the industry, resulting in ugly scenes on public streets.

It’s true, too, that big building firms are to some degree complicit in allowing the CFMEU to normalise a culture of fear, coercion and bad behaviour after buying a bad peace.

Right now, the union is dishonestly spinning like mad, trying to pretend the administration is an attack on wages and conditions rather than on criminal elements and corruption.

But early signs are that administrator Mark Irving, KC, is seeking to rebuild a strong but honest CFMEU, rather than gut it.

Irving is appointing union-friendly figures, such as former communist and long-time academics’ union boss Grahame McCulloch, to help with the clean-up.

In NSW and Queensland, respected trade union figures Chris Christodoulou and Travis O’Brien have been appointed by Irving to lead the branches. They are labour movement lifers, not union busters.

While Setka is gone and Greenfield, Christopher, Mallia, and others have been sacked, Irving has permitted CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith to keep his job. It’s the right call.

Smith has publicly appeared beholden to the rotten CFMEU regime of old, but he has integrity, youth and quiet courage on his side.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith at Woden Town Square in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

While he’s quite rightly taken an absolute pounding for seemingly sticking by Setka, Smith is a genuine unionist who was schooled by honest CFMEU boss Michael O’Connor.

Smith is taint-free, has never copped a quid and is prepared to put the interest of union members above self-interest.

Which is precisely what the union members who rallied on Tuesday should be demanding.