CFMEU vows to act on organised crime, violence against women at emergency meeting

The construction union’s national secretary has secured landmark support from union delegates for his push to rid the industry of gangland players and conduct previously supported by the exiled CFMEU leadership regime in Victoria and NSW.

About 500 Victorian delegates unanimously voted at an emergency meeting on Tuesday to support CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith’s calls to reject the underworld’s infiltration of the construction sector and the corresponding violence against women by bikies given the job of union delegates.

CFMEU members after a crisis meeting in Melbourne on Tuesday.Credit: The Age

The meeting follows revelations from this masthead that Mick Gatto and other figures had been receiving large payments from Big Build contractors and other building firms, prompting urgent calls for law reform at the state and federal level, as well as more action from law enforcement.

The move is a boost to Smith’s leadership of the embattled union and comes just days after disgraced former CFMEU Victoria boss John Setka sought to once again defend gangland figure Gatto, describing him as a gentleman on a podcast.

Smith said in a statement that the union had now “drawn a line in the sand against criminality and corruption”.

“Corruption and people operating in their own interests damages our union and its members,” he said.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith last year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A resolution passed at the meeting said the shop stewards were “committed to an industry free of intimidation and corruption”, adding that the industry’s issues had damaged a union that workers had built over the last 150 years.

“The union must not be a safe haven for criminals or corrupt elements,” a copy of the resolution obtained by this masthead reads.

The resolution also called on “any and all investigations” to focus on the criminal and corrupt elements in the industry that are using the name of the CFMEU for their own purposes. “Employers, bosses and criminal elements who want to use the CFMEU must be called out,” it said.

The meeting also passed a resolution supporting women in the industry and calling for all sites to be free of violence and harassment.

That followed revelations by this masthead that a woman was assaulted on a worksite and other female staffers had been harassed and black-banned from projects for raising complaints about violence and intimidation by other CFMEU members.

“There is no place for men’s violence towards women in our society, our workplaces or our union,” the resolution stated.

The resolution directed the Victorian branch of the union to allocate resources for education and training on those issues, and to establish a partnership with a relevant women’s safety organisation to support members facing violence at work or home.

The delegates also voted to support the work of CFMEU official Lisa Zanatta and the union’s Victorian Women’s Committee.

This masthead revealed on Monday that a female CFMEU member was bashed outside her Big Build worksite by a relative of two influential CFMEU figures, only to later find out the perpetrator’s relatives were inadvertently tipped off by Zanatta. The woman was then black-banned from the Big Build.

The union delegates also agreed to a major change in how delegates and shop stewards are appointed to their roles, after this masthead previously revealed that bikies and other criminals were able to take up powerful and well-paid roles and move from job to job within the industry with impunity under the old system.

Under the new process approved at the meeting, shop stewards will be required to have five years of uninterrupted membership, industry experience, and a demonstrated commitment to union values.

The new process will also require shop stewards to be elected by the members on each project they seek to represent, both at its outset and once during the life of the project.

The union will also put in place a process to ensure that the recruitment and transfer of delegates will be made accountable and must be brought to a meeting of the senior branch leadership.

“All shop stewards are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects the union’s statement of values,” the resolution says.

The Melbourne meeting of the CFMEU came a day after calls from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for the return of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, and new national laws for racketeering that would aim to drive organised crime out of the sector.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday again pointed to Victoria Police’s existing taskforce, Operation Hawk, to investigate blackmail, extortion, assaults and threats to life and property related to the construction industry.

Federal Workplace Minister Murray Watt also said he had referred several allegations to federal police on Monday, including the revelation that building companies are paying off outlaw motorcycle gangs via “dummy” companies; false or misleading information given to the Fair Work Commission to obtain approval of enterprise agreements; and violence – particularly gender-based – on building and construction sites and at the homes of workers.

Separately on Tuesday, law firm Adero said it was preparing a class action against the CFMEU’s Victorian construction division and its former boss John Setka after speaking to dozens of the union’s current and former members who say they were black-banned on sites.

Adero said in a statement it believed that up to 300 members of the CFMEU in Victoria may have been blacklisted by their union over the last six years. Setka was contacted for comment. The CFMEU declined to comment.

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