‘Creche for party hacks’: CFMEU quits Labor Left
The powerful CFMEU has quit Labor’s Left Faction, attacking it as a ‘creche for party hacks’ and issuing a broadside at former deputy premier Jackie Trad. VOTE IN THE POLL
QLD Politics
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The powerful CFMEU has quit Queensland’s Labor’s Left Faction.
In a statement issued this morning, the union said both the Mining and the Construction divisions have decided they can be “more effective advocates for workers as a voice totally independent of a faction that has lost touch with its core values.”
“The leadership vacuum in the left has seen a once powerful voice for working Queenslanders atrophy to the point where today it is little more than a creche for party hacks,” union boss Michael Ravbar said in the statement.
The union has publicly criticised Cross River Rail in recent months, while having also taken aim at the project’s Minister Kate Jones.
Mr Ravbar slammed the powerful Faction, claiming the leadership has consistently devoted more energy to “internal intrigues and power plays” than to driving a policy platform.
“Quite simply the so-called left faction is now merely an impotent and self-serving echo chamber for a cabal of Peel Street elite who have totally lost touch with their working class roots,” he said.
“While the CFMEU will remain affiliated with the ALP, the union will be a more potent force free of any formal factional links.”
“Our only factional alignment is with the interests of our members.”
Mr Ravbar claimed the faction had become “little more than a protection racket for dud members such as Jackie Trad”, who he claimed as Deputy Premier “bears much of the blame for the failure to look after workers interests’ even on major projects such as Cross River Rail“.
The union quit the Left for at least an hour in 2017 when it walked out on the faction during Labor’s state conference over a motion being moved by the Electrical Trades Union.
Mr Ravbar also slammed the Palaszczuk Government’s lack of a proper economic plan for jobs in the regions and said Labor could well haemorrhage votes from CFMEU members while the union was unhappy with it.
He said the government had done a good job managing health during the coronavirus crisis.
“But outside of that you’ve got to have the vision, you’ve got to have the leadership and the strategy in regards to jobs and job security moving forward,” Mr Ravbar told 4BC.
“And that’s where I think the government is certainly lacking.
“And I think that the Left faction is more focused on itself and it’s great for the inner-city, but the thing is, you’ve got to look after the whole Queensland economy, which they ain’t doing at the moment.”
Asked whether CFMEU members might not vote for Labor on October 31, Mr Ravbar said the union was “quite a broadchurch”.
“I would never tell my members how to vote or who to vote for, but at the end of the day they do put a lot of trust in their union and if we’re not happy with the Labor Party they will take notice on that and that could be a likely consequence,” he said.
He said Labor “seems to be” courting the Green vote while the Left forgot about he mining sector, which was “the engine room of the economy”.
“Unfortunately the Labor Party looking after the inner-city elite keeps forgetting about its working class roots,” he said.
“ … The Labor Party’s base is quite broad, you’ve got to look after everybody when you’re in government, but at the end of the day you don’t walk about from key industries like construction, like tradies, you don’t walk away from miners, you’re not anti-resources, you look after working class backgrounds, it’s about how you manage the economy.”
Cross River Rail Minister Kate Jones said decisions about CFMEU affiliations were a matter for the CFMEU.
“This is obviously a decision they haven’t come to lightly,” she said.
“It is a decision that only they can make.
“We’re not going to get distracted by these kind of decisions about internal party politics when our job is to create jobs for the people of Queensland, build the infrastructure ... and ensuring our economy gets back on track.”
She said more than 90 per cent of the Cross River Rail project had been locally procured.
“I stopped meeting with them (the CFMEU) when they said they didn’t want to meet with me,” Ms Jones claimed.
“My door’s always open. I will meet with anyone in regards to the Cross River Rail project.
“And my message very clearly to the CFMEU today is my door remains open. I’m happy to meet with them when they’d like to meet with me.”
Ms Jones also rejected CFMEU claims that Ms Trad was a dud MP and insisted she was working “extremely hard” for the people of South Brisbane.
“She has a strong track record of delivering in her local community and I know that she’s out there fighting each and every day for the people of South Brisbane,” she said.
The criticism of Labor’s economic plan follows a broadside last week from one of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s former chief strategists, Cameron Milner.
The respected Labor figure savaged the Palaszczuk Government for arrogantly assuming it had already won the October state election because of COVID-19 while having no plan to fix Queensland’s battered economy.
The CFMEU also split with the Queensland Council of Unions in 2017, alleging the body had not been supportive enough of its campaign for the Government to introduce industrial manslaughter laws.
The Courier-Mail understands tensions have been simmering for months, with the CFMEU annoyed ETU’s candidate Lance McCallum was preselected for Bundamba earlier this year.
Earlier this year, the union was considering its willingness to fundraise and proactively pour resources into Labor’s campaign for the October 31 poll due to its Cross River Rail dispute.
In June, the CFMEU launched a campaign against Ms Jones, who is in the Old Guard faction, over claims she was “selling out Queensland jobs” through the government’s management of the rail project.
They took out full-page newspaper ads and bombarded her inner-city Ashgrove electorate of Cooper with pamphlets criticising her.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk responded to the CFMEU’s statement by denying claims Labor had walked away from workers.
Asked whether she’d like the union to campaign for the party at the looming election, Ms Palaszczuk said the union stood up for workers, just as other unions did.
“All the unions play a vital role,” she said. “There’s one party that supports workers and there’s one that doesn’t.”
She said she didn’t believe there were “dud politicians” in her team.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles would not say whether he was disappointed the CFMEU had quit the Faction, of which he is now the parliamentary leader, instead saying he didn’t agree with the comments Mr Ravbar had made.
He said there were no “duds” in the Left.
“What I can tell you is that we have worked very closely with all of the unions but particularly the CFMMEU throughout this pandemic to keep their workers, their members in work,” he said.
“Regardless of whatever Mr Ravbar’s said today, we look forward to continuing to work with them throughout this pandemic because we know how important those industries are.”
Asked whether he’d like to see the union rejoin, Mr Miles said it was a matter for them.
“I understand they’re staying affiliated with the Labor Party, I expect they would continue to campaign with us at the election because they know that it’s the Labor Party who works with them to support jobs and their industry just as we have demonstrated,” he said.
Bancroft MP Chris Whiting, who is a member of the CFMEU, declined to comment.
In response to questions about the CFMEU’s departure from the Left, union heavyweight Gary Bullock said everyone’s priority should be on getting through the COVID-19 crisis and standing up for what is best for Queenslanders.
The Left leader, who is the Queensland secretary of the United Workers Union, said
this was a decision for the CFMEU.
“Working people know Labor will do better by them, they remember what happened the last time the LNP were in government,” he said.
“At this time, everyone’s priority should be getting through the COVID-19 crisis and standing up for what is best for Queenslanders.
“In my view, that’s what the Premier and this Government have been doing.
“The people of Queensland will have the final say on election day.”
