Union opens door to shifting donations from Labor to Greens

Electrical Trades Union boss Michael Wright has left the door open to the union backing the Greens at the next federal election, potentially costing federal Labor a million-dollar donation to their re-election campaign.

The union has long been a strong supporter of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and both have strongly protested the federal government’s introduction of laws that allowed the construction union to be placed into administration.

ETU National Secretary, Michael Wright, during a rally protesting CFMEU administration, at the front of Parliament House in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Before the 2022 election, the ETU donated $1 million to federal Labor. However, in September the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, of which the ETU is a part, announced it was quitting the Australian Council of Trade Unions and distanced itself from Labor.

The schism was triggered after the federal government introduced laws following The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes′ Building Bad investigation into the CFMEU, which found underworld figures had infiltrated the union.

A High Court case designed to end the union’s administration, brought by former CFMEU secretary Michael Ravbar and assistant secretary William Louth, returned to court on Tuesday. It has been supported by the ETU and the Victorian divisions of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

About 200 members of the ETU, CFMEU and other unions gathered outside Parliament House on Tuesday to protest and listen to fiery speeches as a giant, inflatable “fat cat” and “dirty rat” were buffeted by winds on Federation Mall.

A rally protesting CFMEU administration, at the front of Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday 10 December 2024.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Wright told the crowd allegations against the CFMEU had led to the union having its basic democratic rights stripped and a “trial by media”.

“Trial by judges, not by parliament, that’s what the court case down the road is about,” Wright said, referring to the High Court.

After the rally, Wright said no decision had been made on whether to donate to the Greens but that it would run a significant third-party campaign focused on workers rights.

“We’re not donating to Labor, we have made that crystal clear. We’ve also made crystal clear Peter Dutton is a threat to our members’ jobs. So how are we going to campaign to protect our members’ jobs to protect their future? That is what we need to figure out,” he said.

Asked if he welcomed the Greens’ opposition to the deregistration of the CFMEU, Wright said the party had “been on the right side of history” for industrial relations during this term of parliament.

As union officials protested, down the road in the High Court barrister Bret Walker SC, representing the CFMEU officials, argued the federal laws were invalid for four reasons.

Those reasons included that: placing the union in administration amounted to the acquisition of property on unjust terms; the laws infringed on the implied freedom of political communication; the laws did not have a valid head of power in the constitution and; the intervention could mean the parliament imposing judicial punishment, which it did not have the power to do.

The case continues.

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