Your say: ‘Obscene’ $200k+ union deals an affront to teachers, nurses, police

The sweetheart conditions the State Government has struck with construction unions have outraged Queenslanders who say they are contributing to massive cost blowouts in major projects at taxpayers’ expense. JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Construction workers on government projects could pull wage rises of more than 50 per cent under the controversial Best Practice Industry Conditions policy – while the state’s teachers, nurses, police and correctional officers languish with single-digit increases.

The sweetheart conditions the State Government has struck with construction unions have outraged Queenslanders who say they are contributing to massive cost blowouts in major projects at taxpayers’ expense.

Double time when it rains, a full month of rostered days off each year, and an extra $1000 a week when working away from home are just some of the conditions under its controversial Best Practice Industry Conditions policy.

Premier Steven Miles has defended the deal and said he made no apologies for looking after workers, but the BPIC agreement guarantees those in the construction industry a range of conditions that teachers, nurses and police officers can only dream of.

The agreement promises that work must stop when the temperature exceeds 29C and the humidity 75 per cent, or anytime when it spikes above 35C.

Michael Ravbar, the CFMEU state secretary has hit back, saying his members are being unfairly blamed for everything from project delays and federal funding cuts to the housing crisis and the Olympic stadium saga.

CFMEU Qld boss Michael Ravbar.

“We don’t believe high-vis workers are second-class citizens because they didn’t attend a GPS school or university. We love our members, whether they live in Brisbane or the regions, and we are proud of the conditions we’ve won together,’’ he says.

Some of the huge salaries revealed this week for workers on $1 billion plus project include:

Civil labourer (10-week course) $217,000

Traffic controller (two-day course) $215,000

Compare those to other government employees:

Senior Constable (six-month course + five years' experience) $125,000

Registered Nurse (three-year degree) $125,000

Correctional officer (12-month certificate + 15 years' experience) $110,000

Schoolteacher (degree + six years' experience) $110,000

Steven Miles has defended the union deals.

WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN SAYING

Frank #2

As an ex State President of a Qld Union I wholeheartedly with the concept of a fair days pay for a fair days work, but some of the conditions in this BPIC are just over the top ridiculous, no wonder most state government projects are doubling or even tripling in costs. 

Where is the “community standard” in relation to these conditions? The building community that is,

These condition only apply (at the moment) to major projects valued at over $100 million. Are you saying that someone working on a project valued at, say, $80 million has less skills and knowledge so therefore shouldn’t receive these benefits?

It’s time for Labor to go as they are blatantly favouring one union over another, one worker over another,

Looking for the Truth

This is obscene, and Miles has the temerity to defend it. This is an insult to all frontline workers, Nurses, Doctors, Fireys, Police. Ambos and Teachers, some of whom put their lives on the line every time they go to work. Miles deserves to be punted from politics and cast out into the wilderness. Perhaps if all of the unions involved in front line work went on strike, we would see how quickly all of the Government construction sites shut down.

Cheryl

How will any thing get built through summer if work has to stop when temps reach 29C. Has the dumb Premier and unions forgotten this is QUEENSLAND, so looks like no building will be done at all in summer, this is definitely going to blowout cost of building and will take twice as long and with the wet weather we have had this summer (even though BOM said it was going to be a hot DRY summer), looks like anything being built for the Olympic Games has just doubled in price and won’t be finished in time. Looks like the building of houses are either going to be more expensive or take even longer to build as private contractors try to compete with government/union jobs, who would want to work for private companies when they can get cushy government work, private builders will either have to close down or increase prices to compete. This is just madness.

CFMEU protest through Brisbane. Picture: Richard Walker

Corrie

No wonder all the Government projects are costing billions of dollars over budget. The way things are going some workers will be paid more than the Labor politicians who approved these massive perks. No surprise so many are ex unions employees. Today’s officials or delegates are tomorrow’s cabinet ministers. Let’s not forget where the Labor Party gets all its funds. Massive “donations” from the very unions that they give these sweetheart deals to.

(I am not anti-unions and was a member for over 50 years.)

Robina

I think there would be a lot more interest in teaching as a career if teachers working in remote areas were paid $1000 a week extra and flown home every weekend. And given free Qantas Club membership. I suggest the Queensland Teachers’ Union start lobbying for this improvement in Queensland teachers’ working conditions right away.

Ian#2

Well all these union workers are in for a big shock in October when Giggles and his team are booted from power. A new set of pay arrangements will be developed and if the workforce don’t like it, too bad. Remember the electricity workers, Joh sacked the lot and found new ones. No wonder every single infrastructure project in QLD blows out because the cost of building anything with unionists id excessive. Time to start again, a new slate, and bring some reality into the industry.

Rob

This whole BPIC fiasco would make a great script for a new Sitcom. How this is supposed to improve productivity is unfathomable, let alone the flow-on impacts on all areas of construction including the housing sector. Sadly the ALP governments both federally and state are well down the track to totally screwing Australia’s economic future and living standards. Lunatics in charge of the asylum.

Jade Ingham at the CFMEU protest through Brisbane. Picture: Richard Walker

William

Explains why Cross River Rail has blown out in cost from 5.4 billion to 7 billion and will be completed at least a year later than promised. Don’t think I’d be confident on the Queensland Government delivering any of the Olympic projects at the projected cost and to the timelines given.

Donald

If you deny that these conditions have driven direct costs of construction sky high and imposed massive indirect costs on the economy, you must be either their beneficiary or stupid, or both. The value of the output of these workers is well below the cost of their pay and conditions. It’s as simple as that.

Scorpio

Let’s have a look at small business for sure ! Earn about $10 an hour when you consider the amount hours that are worked. I will gladly show the books. Close up now if I could pick up a cushy union or public service job

Rutland

We need a Union for small business owners, most of whom work far harder for much less. Does anyone care about the mental health of the small business owner who gets hit with more and more red tape each year as a reward for being “the backbone of the economy” as politicians love to say. In any other circumstances this would be described as misuse of market power by the unions akin to an extortion racket

Mark

Now we know why the massive cost blow outs on cross river rail and the Gold Coast light rail are coming from.

As for some of the conditions, little wonder everything is behind schedule and everting is over budget.

I just hope these conditions can be changed after this mob get voted out. I see a lot of conflict in the building sector. More private companies required.

Robert

The Labor government has allowed a union to become so powerful, that it can now dictate terms, conditions and effectively hold the same government to ransom. There is something very disturbing and fundamentally flawed in Australia’s system of governance and I can’t see how any political party is going to be capable of controlling, let alone fixing it, without compromising itself.

Hundreds of CFMEU members storm the Brisbane CBD in a volatile protest that stopped traffic and saw a glass door smashed. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Pervis

Having worked on a union construction site, let’s just say when the word goes out for a ‘go slow’ it is pretty well co-ordinated. Then they pick up all the OT to ‘get it back on track’, why wouldn’t they milk these jobs out? Of course the productivity goes down, what incentive does the worker have to doing the opposite?

David

Stop work at 29 degrees and 75% humidity or 35 degrees or when it rains. That would have to be more than half the working year in Queensland. Add 4 weeks leave, another month of RDOs, then we may get 30% productivity.

We could move to permanent night shift, but that will probably have a triple time allowance.

They can’t be serious.

Humphrey

I was a carpenter in WA. I worked on union jobs and non union jobs. On union jobs we were safe and had good conditions like clean toilets and smoko sheds.

On non union jobs I worked with no safety, often no smoko shed, no security and if one was injured long arguments about compensation. Builders are notoriously uncaring about workers, I saw people die. It is easy to criticise wage rates but construction workers are often in the heat and the rain and the mud. Our bodies are often broken and we are deaf well before retirement age. But we work efficiently, no standing around the coffee machine or nipping out for a smoke break like office workers. We never hear complaints about lawyers charging $400 an hour for sitting in airconditioned comfort in a comfy chair.

I’m Left, but I’m Always Right.

Meanwhile the chief executives of this country’s biggest companies earn upwards of 55 times that of these ordinary workers. A 2023 report found that CEO’s at any at the 100 largest listed firms averaged $5.2m per year. In the top bracket of those listed were on anything from $10m to $47m per year. But he we are denigrating our ordinary workers for receiving small bonuses when often the conditions were unsafe and risky. But I guess when someone is on a mission to have the current govt changed, the gullible will focus only on this and their attention is drawn away from greedy salaries that the LNP support.

Scrub Bull

It will be interesting to see how people respond when the lack of infrastructure in Qld directly effects them.

We are already starting to see the impact of these ridiculous union agreements.

I am betting the infrastructure required for the Olympics and Green Dream Renewables will send Qld broke or at least swamp in debt for generations to have to repay.